Calexico, California - U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Calexico East port of entry arrested a 34-year-old man Wednesday after stopping an alleged attempt to smuggle a pound of cocaine and almost three pounds of methamphetamine inside 30 individual energy bars.

“This is another great result of the diligence of the men and women of CBP, who work tirelessly to protect our nation from dangerous drugs,” said Calexico Port Director Billy Whitford.  “Their ability to interdict contraband at the port of entry is a good example of CBP’s efforts to secure our border, and prevents these dangerous drugs from entering our community.”

At about 1:30 p.m. on Sept. 16, the man arrived at the Calexico East pedestrian border crossing carrying a cooler, and applied for entry into the U.S.  CBP officers noticed that the man appeared nervous, and referred him aside for additional inspection.

The officers ran the cooler through the port’s imaging system and detected anomalies within the 30 energy bars stored inside.  After finding possible signs of tampering with the wrappers, CBP officers opened the each of the 30 energy bars, and found wrapped-packages of narcotics concealed inside.

Eight of the packages field-tested positive as cocaine and 22 tested positive as methamphetamine.  One pound of cocaine was extracted from the energy bars, worth an estimated street value of $15,000, along with a total of nearly three pounds of methamphetamine, worth about $21,000.

The man, a Mexican citizen and legal permanent resident of the U.S., was arrested and turned over to the custody of Homeland Security Investigations agents for further processing.  He was later booked to the Imperial County Jail.

CBP seized the narcotics.

In fiscal year 2014, CBP officers at the ports of entry along the California border with Mexico seized 14,732 pounds of methamphetamine and 4,869 pounds of cocaine.