OTAY MESA, Calif. — U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Otay Mesa Cargo Facility found narcotics worth more than $10 million in a shipment of jalapeño paste Wednesday.
CBP said on Wednesday just after 10:30 a.m. agents encountered a man, 28, driving a commercial tractor-trailer with a shipment of alapeño paste. The driver did have a valid border crossing card but agents referred him for further examination of the tractor-trailer and shipment inside.
A CBP K-9 inspected barrels in the trailer, according to KGTV. The K-9 alerted the officers so they could inspect further.
That was when officers opened the barrels of the jalapeño paste and found 349 suspicious packages, the news outlet reported.
The packages were tested and came back as methamphetamine weighing 3,161.43 pounds and cocaine weighing 522.50 pounds, CBP said.
“Our K-9 teams are an invaluable component of our counter-narcotics operations, providing a reliable and unequaled mobile detection capability,” said Rosa Hernandez, Otay Mesa Port Director. “By implementing local operations under Operation Apollo and CBP’s Strategy to Combat Fentanyl and other Synthetic Drugs, we will continue to secure communities and stifle the growth of transnational criminal organizations, one seizure after another.”
The narcotics and the tractor-trailer were seized by CBP. Homeland Security Investigation took custody of the driver.
The estimated street value of the methamphetamine and cocaine was $10,430,000, according to CBP.
