Salton City, California - El Centro Sector Border Patrol agents assigned to the Indio Station arrested a suspected drug smuggler Sunday after discovering packages of methamphetamine hidden in a backpack.

The incident occurred at approximately 4:30 p.m., when Border Patrol agents encountered a 20-year-old man on a commercial passenger bus at the Highway 86 checkpoint.

Agents referred the bus driver to secondary inspection area for an immigration check.  During the inspection, a Border Patrol canine detection team alerted to the man’s backpack.  The agents searched the backpack and subsequently discovered two packages of methamphetamine.

The methamphetamine had a combined weight of 2.2 pounds with an estimated street value of about $22,000.

The man and the narcotics were turned over to the custody of Drug Enforcement Administration agents for further investigation.