This smuggling scheme died on the vine.
US Customs Border and Safety officers seized greater than $5 million price of meth disguised as a cargo of watermelons in what the federal company has dubbed a “seedy state of affairs.”
CBP officers made the bust on Friday on the Otay Mesa Industrial Facility in San Diego after they stopped a 29-year-old man hauling a industrial tractor-trailer of the fruits from Mexico to the US.
When authorities took the truck apart for a secondary inspection, they uncovered 1,220 packages of what was later decided to be meth wrapped up and disguised in watermelon-colored paper, CBP stated.
In whole, the packages weighed 4,587 kilos with an estimated avenue worth of over $5 million.
CBP officers seized the medicine and tractor-trailer and the driving force was turned over to the custody of Homeland Safety Investigations for additional investigation, CBP stated.
“I’m extremely happy with our workforce for his or her distinctive work over the previous few weeks in uncovering refined and various smuggling strategies,” said Rosa E. Hernandez, port director for the Space Port of Otay Mesa.
“As drug cartels proceed to evolve their smuggling methods, we’ll proceed discovering new and higher methods to stop these harmful medicine and different contraband from getting into the nation,” she added.
Officers stated the arrest was made as a part of Operation Apollo, a large CBP counter-fentanyl smuggling effort that started in Southern California in October and has since expanded to Arizona.
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