U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in Otay Mesa this week discovered almost 1,200 small packages of methamphetamine hidden within a shipment of onions.
The officers found approximately 1,336 pounds of methamphetamine worth an estimated $2.9 million on the street.
The incident began at 1 p.m. Sunday, when CBP officers encountered a tractor trailer with a shipment declared to be onions. During the inspection at the Otay Mesa commercial facility, an officer referred the driver, 46, along with the conveyance for a further examination.
A canine team screened the truck and trailer and the detector dog raised an alert about the shipment. Officers searched and discovered 1,197 packages of methamphetamine mixed with onions in sacks.
The packages of the drugs were shaped into small globes with a white covering, designed to blend in among the onions.
Sidney Aki, the CBP Director of Field Operations in San Diego, called the smuggling effort “not only a clever attempt to try and smuggle in narcotics, (but) one I haven’t seen before.”
“These efforts show how effective our officers are, and as a response, the lengths drug trafficking organizations are willing to go to as they try to smuggle narcotics into the U.S.,” Aki said. “While we have certainly seen narcotics in produce before, it’s unusual for us to see this level of detail in the concealment.”
The driver was arrested on suspicion of smuggling the narcotics. CBP officers turned the driver, a Mexican citizen, over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations while also seizing the drugs, tractor and trailer.