Border Bust Nets $2.8M in Drugs
- Federal and local officers seized large quantities of narcotics during two separate border busts in the San Diego area. - Authorities recovered more than 430 pounds of cocaine and methamphetamine valued at about $2.8 million. - Two people were arrested; agents continue probing trafficking routes and networks for broader enforcement (patch.com).
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at Otay Mesa seized more than 430 pounds of cocaine and methamphetamine in two stops last week, with an estimated street value of $2.8 million. (cbp.gov) The first seizure happened April 7, when officers sent a 51-year-old Mexican citizen driving a Toyota Prius to secondary inspection at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry. A canine team and an imaging scan led officers to 25 packages of methamphetamine weighing about 307 pounds, valued at $491,200. (cbp.gov) The second seizure happened April 8, when officers stopped a 31-year-old woman driving a pickup truck through the same port. Officers found 10 packages of cocaine weighing about 124 pounds, with an estimated value of $2.33 million. (cbp.gov) Both drivers were turned over to Homeland Security Investigations, and officers seized the vehicles and narcotics. Otay Mesa is one of the San Diego region’s busiest commercial and passenger border crossings with Mexico, making it a frequent target for smuggling attempts hidden in private vehicles and cargo. (cbp.gov, ice.gov) The seizures landed as Customs and Border Protection reported a broader surge of narcotics interceptions across its San Diego Field Office. In March alone, officers at San Ysidro, Otay Mesa and Calexico seized 6,130 pounds of drugs worth more than $14 million, including 4,484 pounds of methamphetamine and 1,138 pounds of cocaine. (cbp.gov) That pattern has stretched well beyond a single week. Customs and Border Protection said the San Diego Field Office seized more than 7,570 pounds of narcotics worth over $29 million in April 2025, including methamphetamine, cocaine, fentanyl and heroin. (cbp.gov) Federal prosecutors in San Diego have also tied major regional trafficking cases to cartel-linked networks. In May 2025, an indictment unsealed in San Diego charged alleged Sinaloa Cartel leaders with narco-terrorism and drug trafficking tied to shipments of fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin into the United States. (ice.gov) Customs and Border Protection says its drug-seizure data is pulled from live enforcement systems tracking narcotics stopped at and between ports of entry nationwide. The Otay Mesa arrests now move from the inspection lanes into the investigative phase, where agents try to trace who packed the drugs, who financed the load and where it was headed. (cbp.gov, ice.gov)
