600 Pounds of Meth Found in Modified Truck at Arizona Checkpoint

Tucson Sector Border Patrol agents disrupted a drug smuggling attempt at an interior checkpoint in Arizona. They found more than 600 pounds of methamphetamine in an after-market compartment on a pickup truck.

Border Patrol agents assigned to the Highway 286 immigration checkpoint observed a Ford F-250 approaching for inspection. The agents referred the driver, a 26-year-old man from Hereford, Arizona, to the secondary inspection station, according to information obtained from CBP officials.

A search of the truck led to the discovery of several packages of drugs in a compartment hidden beneath the utility section. After removing the drugs, a Border Patrol K-9 searched the truck and alerted to the presence of drugs hidden in the frame of the vehicle, officials stated.

Agents decided to move the truck to a more secure location due to the remoteness of the interior immigration checkpoint. They towed the truck to the Sasabe Port of Entry.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of Field Operations officers assisted the Border Patrol agents in inspecting the “highly modified areas” of the utility truck, officials stated. The search of the truck led to the discovery of more than 600 pounds of drugs.

Officials tested the drugs and identified the load as methamphetamine. They estimated the value of the shipment at approximately $1.4 million.

Border Patrol agents arrested the driver and seized the drugs and the truck. They turned the case over to ICE Homeland Security Investigations special agents for further investigation and preparation of drug trafficking charges.

During the first 11 months of Fiscal Year 2020, CBP officers seized more than 19,000 pounds of methamphetamine and nearly 14,000 pounds of cocaine at ports of entry around the nation. Both represent substantial increases in seizures over the same period in FY19, according to reports obtained from CBP officials.

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.