Mass Meth Seizure At Otay Mesa Border

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers seized 3,078 pounds of methamphetamine from a cargo trailer at the Otay Mesa Commercial Facility after an April 14 inspection. (cbp.gov) The agency said the truck was a 2017 Freightliner Cascadia driven by a 31-year-old Mexican citizen who arrived with a shipment declared as corrugated cardboard boxes. (cbp.gov) Officers referred the tractor-trailer to secondary inspection, where a non-intrusive imaging scan and a canine team led them to 1,224 wrapped packages. The meth had an estimated street value of $4,924,960, according to Customs and Border Protection. (cbp.gov) (nbcsandiego.com) Customs and Border Protection said officers seized the truck, trailer and narcotics, and turned the driver over to Homeland Security Investigations for further processing. Otay Mesa Port Director Rosa E. Hernandez said officers at ports of entry are “unwavering guardians” against drug smuggling. (cbp.gov) The seizure landed in a month of repeated narcotics cases at Otay Mesa. On April 7 and April 8, officers there also seized more than 430 pounds of cocaine and methamphetamine in two separate vehicle inspections. (cbp.gov) (patch.com) Across the broader San Diego Field Office, Customs and Border Protection said officers seized 6,130 pounds of narcotics in March, including 4,484 pounds of methamphetamine, 1,138 pounds of cocaine, 382 pounds of fentanyl and 37 pounds of heroin. (cbp.gov) Otay Mesa has also been the site of larger meth cases in past years. In August 2021, officers there seized 2.8 tons of methamphetamine and fentanyl powder hidden in a shipment of plastic household goods, which Customs and Border Protection called the largest meth seizure along the southwest border at the time. (cbp.gov) This time, the drugs were allegedly packed into a trailer moving through one of the busiest commercial crossings on the U.S.-Mexico border. The case now moves from border inspection to federal criminal investigation. (cbp.gov)