U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers seized 122 pounds of methamphetamine during a vehicle inspection earlier this week at the California border. The alleged seizure resulted in the arrest a 59-year-old female U.S. citizen on drug smuggling charges.
On Monday at approximately 11 pm, officers assigned to the Tecate Port of Entry in the San Diego Sector contacted a female driver in a 2003 Mitsubishi Montero. Officers referred the female, identified as a 59-year old U.S. citizen, to a secondary inspection and shortly thereafter, a K-9 alerted to an odor to the rear of the vehicle, according to federal officials. CBP officers utilized a density meter and scanned the vehicle through the port imaging system which revealed abnormalities contained within the four tires. Officers removed the tires and discovered individual packages concealed behind metal casing which were on each of the tires. A field test of the substance contained within the packages produced positive results for methamphetamine. Agents discovered 24 packages with a combined weight of 122 pounds with an estimated street value of $323,000.
The driver, a resident of La Puente, California, was arrested and turned over to agents of Homeland Security Investigations. The driver was later transported to Las Colinas Detention Center for determination of charges. The individual packages of methamphetamine were inventoried and seized.
“This interdiction prevented a large amount of methamphetamine from reaching our communities and endangering many lives,” said CBP Tecate Port Director Rene Ortega in prepared statement.
Mexican authorities and U.S. counterparts continue to make large seizures of methamphetamine along the California and Arizona border. According to Breitbart law enforcement sources, most seizures are the result of the Sinaloa Cartel’s escalated production with “super labs.” In 2018, major busts included approximately 120,000 pounds of methamphetamine during a series of raids in northern Mexico. Last week, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers seized 395 pounds of methamphetamine during a commercial vehicle inspection in Calexico, California.
The production of fentanyl has also been increased as indicated by record seizures, like when U.S. Border Customs and Border Patrol agents found 254 pounds of fentanyl and 395 pounds of methamphetamine at a commercial border crossing in Nogales, Arizona.
Robert Arce is a retired Phoenix Police detective with extensive experience working Mexican organized crime and street gangs. Arce has worked in the Balkans, Iraq, Haiti, and recently completed a three-year assignment in Monterrey, Mexico, working out of the Consulate for the United States Department of State, International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Program, where he was the Regional Program Manager for Northeast Mexico (Coahuila, Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, Durango, San Luis Potosi, Zacatecas.) You can follow him on Twitter. He can be reached at robertrarce@gmail.com
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