(ProsperNews.net) – Border officers in California have uncovered a stash of cocaine and methamphetamine concealed inside jalapeño paste. The shipment came through the Otay Mesa Cargo Facility in a commercial tractor-trailer operated by a driver with a fully valid border crossing card, but the rig was held for a more thorough examination, leading to the find.
Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) dogs inspected the cargo and uncovered 349 suspicious packages contained within barrels of the paste. Inside the packages was a total of 3,161.43 pounds of methamphetamine and 522.5 pounds of cocaine, with an estimated street value of more than $10 million. CBP officers seized the shipment, and Homeland Security agents detained the driver.
Port Director Rosa Hernandez said, “Our K-9 teams are an invaluable component of our counter-narcotics operations, providing a reliable and unequaled mobile detection capability.”
While some drug smuggling has reduced in recent years, the deadly drug Fentanyl continues to rise. In the fiscal year 2023, CBP seized more than 26,700 pounds of Fentanyl, compared with 14,600 the previous year. For marijuana, the figures have fallen from over 85,000 pounds in 2022 to 61,000 in 2023. Cocaine discovery is slightly up from 25,200 in 2022 to 27,600 in 2023, while methamphetamine seizures dropped from 160,000 in 2022 to 121,000 in 2023.
Officials say part of the reason for the fall in seizures of drugs like cocaine is the increase in Fentanyl, which is said to be easier to smuggle and more profitable for cartels south of the border. The migrant crisis has exasperated the problem, as cartels intimidate and threaten immigrants and force them to smuggle the drugs through. Chief Border Patrol Agent Gloria Chavez said the entire border had become a smuggling route by 2020. “For the first time, we’re starting to see these tactics where fentanyl is being smuggled between ports of entry,” she said.
By 2021, methamphetamine seizures away from ports of entry were up 85% on the previous year.
Copyright 2023, ProsperNews.net
