U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers seized a load of 614 pounds of methamphetamine hidden in a load of green onions from Mexico. Officials estimated the drug shipment to be worth approximately $1.4 million.
CBP Office of Field Operations officers assigned to the Otay Mesa commercial port of entry on the afternoon of July 19 observed a tractor-trailer approaching for inspection. The driver, a 31-year-old Mexican national, presented a manifest stating the trailer contained a load of “mint leaves and other spices,” according to information obtained from San Diego Sector Border Patrol officials. Officers referred the driver to a secondary inspection area.
An inspection utilization a non-intrusive imaging system revealed anomalies within the shipment. Officers had the driver move to a physical inspection area for a more direct search of the vehicle. A CBP K-9 conducting a walk-around inspection alerted to the trailer indicating the possible presence of drugs or human cargo.
CBP officers unloaded the trailer and began a physical search of the boxes of green onions. Officers found 40 wrapped packages of what tested positive as being methamphetamine commingled with the boxes of green onions.
The 40 packages of methamphetamine weighed 614 pounds. Officials estimated the value of the illicit drugs to be worth an estimated $1.4 million.
CBP officers arrested the driver and turned him and the drugs over to Homeland Security Investigations special agents for further investigation.
Officials seized the tractor-trailer.
Breitbart Texas reports extensively on the seizure of methamphetamine by CBP officers and Border Patrol agents.
This has been a record year for drug smuggling from Mexico into the United States, Breitbart Texas’ Jaeson Jones reported earlier this year. In June alone, the seizure of drug shipments jumped by 50 percent from the previous month.
Cocaine and marijuana all saw a spike in seizures with cocaine jumping by nearly 70 percent and fentanyl rising by 151 percent.
“There are still three months left before the end of the current fiscal year. If the seizure numbers stay steady, methamphetamine could reach as high as 130,000 pounds–more than double the 2019 record,” Jones reported.
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.