U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers searching for narcotics traffickers at the southern California border uncovered more than a million dollars worth of methamphetamine concealed within a charcoal shipment.
The discovery, which was made Thursday evening at the Otay Mesa Cargo Facility occurred after CBP officers decided to conduct a thorough search of a commercial tractor-trailer importing charcoal.
The driver, a 46-year-old male valid border crossing card holder was interrogated by CBP officers who also conducted a thorough search of the tractor-trailer and charcoal shipment.
Although the first search did not turn up anything suspicious, CBP officers decided to conduct a more advanced secondary search by using a non-intrusive scanning technology to scan the tractor trailer.
The scan turned up what the CBP called “irregularities” giving the officers cause to deploy a CBP narcotics detection K-9 team.
Once the K-9 team responded, they immediately alerted the Otay Mesa Cargo Facility officers the canines were detecting narcotic drugs.
As CBP officers began sifting through hundreds of packages of charcoal, they found 119 that contained a total weight of 782 pounds of methamphetamine narcotics.
“This finding represents a significant interception showcasing our officers’ dedication to ensuring border security,” said Rosa E. Hernandez, Port Director for the Otay Mesa Ports of Entry in a statement released by the California based CBP post.
“Our devoted team is focused on safeguarding our communities from harmful drugs, utilizing new and innovative technology to support our comprehensive enforcement strategies.”
As a result of the discovery, the Custom Border Protection officers seized the tractor, trailer, and narcotics.
These seizures and others were part of an ongoing effort termed Operation Apollo, a holistic counter-fentanyl effort that started on Oct. 26, 2023 in southern California.
Operation Apollo was designed to focus intelligence assets on collection and law enforcement partnerships between the CBP and other federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial partners to target fentanyl smuggling into the United States.
The operation expanded to Arizona on April 10, 2024.
