(AmericanProsperity.com) – According to a Fox News December 17 report, a 28-year-old driver was caught by US border officers in Southern California after discovering $10 million worth of drugs hidden inside a jalapeño paste shipment. The media outlet noted that border officers at the Otay Mesa Cargo Facility caught the driver hailing vats of the paste in a commercial tractor-trailer right after 10:30 am.
In a statement, the US Customs and Border Protection noted that the suspect is a legal border crossing card holder, and said that he was referred to another area for further examination along with his shipment and rig. The agency also noted that one of its K-9 units inspected the driver’s shipment and alerted CBP officers to what some border officials eventually described on Twitter as a “hot find.”
Different reports pointed out that officers discovered a total of 350 suspicious packages inside the barrels of the paste. Testing of each of the packages showed that these contained 522.5 pounds of pure cocaine and 3,161,43 pounds of methamphetamine. The agency described it as a “large package” as it noticed that the street value of these types of drugs is currently $10.5 million.
Fox News mentioned that the border officers seized the narcotics and the tractor-trailer while the suspect was turned over to investigators from Homeland Security for further questioning. No agency provided more details about the driver or the narcotics found in the jalapeño paste.
During a press conference, Otay Mesa Port Director Rosa Hernandez said that the K-9 teams represent one of the most invaluable components of the agency’s counter-narcotics operations in the borders. She told reporters that these teams provide an “unequaled” and reliable mobile detection capacity that usually brings results. Hernandez added that the agency will keep protecting border communities in the United States and fighting, one “seizure after another,” what she described as the growth of many transnational criminal groups that currently operate in the country.
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