Authorities find nearly $3M worth of meth hidden in onion shipment
SAN DIEGO — Authorities seized nearly $3 million worth of methamphetamine, hidden among a shipment of onions, during a tractor-trailer’s inspection at federal facility in San Diego, officials announced Friday.
A K-9 unit for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection alerted to the trailer’s shipment of onions on Sunday and officers found nearly 1,200 small packages of meth, the agency said Friday in a news release.
The 46-year-old driver, a Mexican national who was not named, was arrested for the alleged narcotic smuggling attempt at the Otay Mesa port-of-entry commercial vehicle facility, officials said.
The packages of meth — more than 1,336 pounds (606 kilograms) — were shaped into small globes with a white covering, the agency said, and meant to blend into the onions. The drugs are estimated to be worth $2.9 million on the street.
“This was not only a clever attempt to try and smuggle in narcotics, one I haven’t seen before, but also time consuming to wrap narcotics into these small packages, designed to look like onions,” said Sidney Aki, CBP Director of Field Operations in San Diego, in the news release. “While we have certainly seen narcotics in produce before, it’s unusual for us to see this level of detail in the concealment.”
Las Vegas DEA also made a meth bust of its own. In a tweet posted on Wednesday, @DEALasVegas announced it had seized 65 pounds of methamphetamine. A DEA spokesman said it is worth about $800,000.
#DEA #LasVegas seized 65 lbs of methamphetamine. #DYK most of all the meth in the U.S. enters at major ports of entry along the Southwest Border. It is often found in poly-drug loads, alongside cocaine & #fentanyl & can be unintentionally mixed during processing & packaging. pic.twitter.com/61VOmJ47DM
— DEALasVegas (@DEALASVEGAS) March 2, 2022
The Review-Journal contributed to this story.