A 28-year-old driver was busted last week after border officers in Southern California discovered over $10 million worth of narcotics hidden inside a shipment of jalapeño paste, authorities said.
Border officers at the Otay Mesa Cargo Facility encountered the driver hauling vats of jalapeño paste in a commercial tractor-trailer just after 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said.
The driver, who officials say is a valid border crossing card holder, was referred to a secondary area for further examination along with his rig and its shipment, the agency said.
A CBP K-9 unit inspected the shipment and alerted officers to what border officials described in a post on X as a “hot find.”
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A K-9 alerted officers to inspect the shipment of jalapeño paste more closely. (U.S. Customs and Border Protection )
A total of 349 suspicious packages were discovered inside the barrels of jalapeño paste, the agency said. Testing of the packages revealed they contained 3,161.43 pounds of methamphetamine and 522.5 pounds of cocaine.
Border officers seized 3,161.43 pounds of methamphetamine and 522.5 pounds of cocaine, estimated to be worth over $10 million. (U.S. Customs and Border Protection )
The estimated street value of the drugs is $10.4 million, according to the agency.
A total of 349 suspicious packages were discovered inside the barrels of jalapeno paste. (U.S. Customs and Border Protection )
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Border officers seized the drugs and tractor-trailer while the driver was turned over to Homeland Security Investigations for further processing. No further details about the driver were immediately provided.
The 28-year-old driver was turned over to Homeland Security Investigations for further processing. (U.S. Customs and Border Protection )
“Our K-9 teams are an invaluable component of our counter-narcotics operations, providing a reliable and unequaled mobile detection capability,” Otay Mesa Port Director Rosa Hernandez said, adding that the agency will continue to protect communities and “stifle growth of transnational criminal organizations, one seizure after another.”
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The agency’s San Diego Field Office seized a total of more than 14,000 pounds of narcotics in November.