U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers intercepted nearly 500 pounds of marijuana near Philadelphia on 6 January 2026 while it was being shipped from Georgia to the United Kingdom.[1] During routine export inspections, officers examined a shipping container holding 80 boxes manifested as clothing.[1] The clothing had been shipped from Decatur, Georgia, to an address in Oxford, England.[1]

Officers opened one box and found marijuana in a vacuum-sealed bag.[1] They then checked all 80 boxes and found that seven boxes held vacuum-sealed bags of marijuana.[1] Officers counted 405 vacuum-sealed packages of marijuana in total.[1] The packages carried labels possibly identifying different strains, including Runtzberry, Joker Candy, Galactic Gas, Mega Cherries and Blue Zooties.[1] The marijuana weighed a combined 218 kilograms, about 481 pounds.[1] Officers seized the marijuana.[1] CBP put the street value in the United States at $2.4 million.[1] The agency said high-potency marijuana could fetch two to three times that amount in Europe.[1]

CBP area port director for Philadelphia Cleatus P. Hunt Jr. said large marijuana loads in containerized cargo had become rare and suggested traffickers may be shifting bulk-smuggling tactics.[1] He said seizing bulk loads hits transnational criminal groups in the wallet by depriving them of illicit gains.[1]