Nearly $1 Million in Meth Seized From Truck With False Compartments at US Border

Freight trucks pass through Mexican customs before entering the United States at the Otay Mesa port of entry in San Diego, in this file photo. (John Moore/Getty Images)

A truck driver transporting cabinets stuffed with methamphetamine was arrested attempting to cross the U.S.–Mexico border, Border Patrol officials said in a July 10 press release.

The 29-year-old man, whose name was withheld, was driving a box truck when he was stopped for inspection at the Calexico East Commercial Facility in the afternoon of July 3. Calexico is about 115 miles east of downtown San Diego.

Officers used scanning technology to search the truck, finding “irregularities,” which they say were false cabinet compartments used to hide the drugs.

Concealed within the wooden cabinets were 49 packages of meth weighing 515.74 pounds and worth $928,000 in estimated street value, according to the press release.

“I am extremely proud of our officers’ relentless efforts to protect our nation’s borders, even during blazing temperatures,” said Roque Caza, Port Director for the Area Port of Calexico, in the press release.

According to Accuweather, the high temperature in Calexico on July 3 was 111.

The drugs were seized by Border Patrol officers and the driver, who holds a valid visa, was turned over to the Department of Homeland Security, officials said.

Just last month, 22 people were indicted by a federal grand jury in Fresno, California, over alleged smuggling of more than 12,000 pounds of methamphetamine and dozens of pounds of fentanyl, cocaine, and heroin from Mexico, prosecutors recently announced.

The drug smuggling ring allegedly stashed liquid, powder, and pill versions of the drugs inside portable projectors, batteries, semi-trucks and even in the gas tanks of cars—all while being tracked by GPS devices—according to a June 17 press release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of California.

At least 12 suspects were from Southern California towns ranging from Lancaster in northern Los Angeles County to Chula Vista near the border, and one was from Pittsburg in the Bay Area.

The smugglers allegedly used a legitimate transportation business to hide the drugs in the batteries and portable projectors and separately sneaked hundreds of pounds of liquid methamphetamine through semi-trucks and cars.

The June case was investigated under the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces, a combination of federal, state, and local partners that targets top criminal organizations in the United States.

The more recent seizure in Calexico results from Operation Apollo, an effort by federal, state, local and tribal partners targeting drug smuggling, according to Border Patrol officials.