EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) — Smugglers used plastic bags with printed images of green onions to hide meth in a shipment of … green onions.
The drugs were deep inside a shipment of produce that arrived on the afternoon of Oct. 20 at the Otay Mesa Commercial Facility in San Diego.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said officers found 183 packages of meth in a pallet that was supposed to be green onions.
CBP said the meth weighed 1,529 pounds and had an estimated street value of $3.3 million.
The massive drug bust was the first of two in two days at the California port of entry.
Less than 48 hours later, officers found anomalies when they X-rayed a tractor-trailer that was supposed to be shipping only electronics.
During a closer examination, a drug-sniffing dog alerted border officers to a false wall in the front of the trailer.
CBP officers found 195 bundles (1,993 pounds) of meth and 75 packages (1,037 pounds) of cocaine. The drugs had an estimated street value of $20.8 million.
“CBP officers are the front line of stopping these dangerous drugs from entering the U.S.,” said Jennifer De La O, CBP Director of Field Operations for the San Diego Field Office. “The lengths drug trafficking organizations are willing to go to conceal and smuggle narcotics is a testament to how effective our officers are.”
Both drivers, described only as men in their late 20s, face charges of attempting to smuggle narcotics. CBP turned them over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations and seized the vehicles and drugs.
