Salton City, California - El Centro Sector Border Patrol agents assigned to the Highway 86 checkpoint Monday stopped two methamphetamine smuggling attempts, finding packages hidden in a passenger car and in the toilet of a commercial passenger bus on Monday.
The first incident occurred at approximately 1 p.m., when Border Patrol agents encountered a woman, a 20-year-old United States citizen, driving a Nissan Sentra.
A Border Patrol canine detection team (K9) alerted to the vehicle. Agents referred the driver aside for further examination. Agents discovered nine packages wrapped in black tape in the front rocker panel of the vehicle. The contents in the packages tested positive for methamphetamine.
The methamphetamine weighed 9.9 pounds with an estimated street value of $99,000.
The second incident occurred at 4:30 a.m. Agents encountered a commercial passenger bus in the same location. Agents referred the bus to secondary for an immigration check on all passengers on board. While inspecting, agents discovered a plastic bag in the restroom toilet that contained bundles wrapped in tape. Agents were unable to immediately determine ownership of the bag. The bag was taken outside for further inspection from a K9. The K9 alerted to three individual packages that tested positives for methamphetamine.
The three bundles weighed 6 pounds with an estimated street value of $60,000.
Drug Enforcement Administration agents took over both cases.
These seizures are in addition to two seizures from over the weekend, when Border Patrol agents at the highway 86 checkpoint seized marijuana and methamphetamine. Acting Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Susan Zepeda said, “That is four narcotic seizures within a week, it goes to show how checkpoints remain a valuable asset to Border Patrol operations.”
Last fiscal year, El Centro Sector seized more than 445 pounds of methamphetamine.
The El Centro Sector’s Community Awareness Campaign is a simple and effective program to raise public awareness on the indicators of crime and other threats. We encourage public and private sector employees to remain vigilant and play a key role in keeping our country safe. Please report any suspicious activity to the Border Community Threat Hotline at 1-800-901-2003.
