OTAY MESA, Calif. — It was enough to bring a tear to the eye.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Otay Mesa commercial facility in California thwarted a methamphetamine smuggling attempt on Sunday, Feb. 20, netting narcotics with an estimated street value of nearly $3 million, the agency stated in a news release.
The seizure occurred during the inspection of a tractor-trailer with a shipment manifested as onions, inside which investigators discovered nearly 1,200 packages of methamphetamine, fashioned into small globes with a white covering, the agency stated.
Officers ultimately seized roughly 1,336 pounds of methamphetamine, worth roughly $2.9 million.
“This was not only a clever attempt to try and smuggle in narcotics, one I haven’t seen before, but also time consuming to wrap narcotics into these small packages, designed to look like onions,” Sidney Aki, CBP Director of Field Operations in San Diego, said in a prepared statement.
“These efforts show how effective our officers are, and as a response, the lengths drug trafficking organizations are willing to go to as they try to smuggle narcotics into the U.S. While we have certainly seen narcotics in produce before, it’s unusual for us to see this level of detail in the concealment,” Aki added.
The driver, a 46-year-old Mexican citizen, was taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations, while U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers seized the narcotics, tractor and trailer, the agency stated.
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