Photo: NOAH SEELAM / AFP / Getty Images
A shipment of methamphetamine disguised as onions was seized by officials United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at the San Diego border crossing.
In a statement, the authorities reported on Friday that the raid was carried out on 20 February when they found a driver of 46 years of a tractor-trailer carrying a shipment of onions.
NEW: CBP agents in San Diego found nearly 1,200 packages of meth hidden in a shipment of onions on a tractor trailer. The meth was packed into small white globes, disguised to look like onions.
1,336 lbs of meth seized.
$2.9 million street value.
MX citizen arrested. @FoxNews pic.twitter.com/hfEeGlCAtR
— Bill Melugin (@BillFOXLA) February 26, 176669545
The vehicle was inspected more intensively and during the review a drug detection dog alerted about the load.
“CBP officers searched the shipment and discovered 1,100 packages of methamphetamine mixed with onions in the sacks. The methamphetamine packages were shaped like small balloons with a white cover, designed to mix with the onions they were hidden with,” authorities said in a statement.
The officers of the CBP extracted from the small balloons approximately 1,336 pounds of methamphetamine with an estimated street value of nearly $2.9 million dollars.
“Not only was this a clever attempt at trying to smuggle narcotics, one I hadn’t seen before, but it also took a long time to wrap the narcotics in these little packages, designed to look like onions,” expressed the director of CBP Field Operations in San Diego, in the statement.
“These efforts show how effective our officers are and, in response How far are organizations willing to go? drug traffickers when they try to smuggle narcotics into the United States, this level of detail in the concealment,” he added.
Authorities said that The driver, a Mexican citizen, was arrested for the alleged attempt to smuggle drugs .
The subject was released for custody to the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) , Homeland Security Investigations (HIS) for later disposal.
The vehicle with its trailer and methamphetamine were seized by CBP officers.
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