Mexican man caught trying to smuggle 400 pounds of cocaine in cucumber shipments across border
A Mexican man was arrested after trying to cross the border into California with more than 400 pounds of cocaine hidden inside boxes of cucumbers, authorities said.
The smuggler, identified only as a 33-year-old, arrived at the Otay Mesa port on September 15 with a tractor trailer carrying cucumbers, the US Customs and Border Protection said.
During the inspection, however, CBP officers found 146 packages of cocaine tucked away inside the cucumber shipments.
All together, officials seized 401.68 pounds of cocaine from the truck.
The bust came just two days after another Mexican national, 25, was arrested at the same entry port while hauling gas tanks in a tractor trailer.
An inspection of the gas tanks revealed that they actually contained 663.15 pounds of liquid meth, which was seized via 22 five-gallon buckets, the CBP said.
The truck was flagged for inspection following a similar smuggling attempt last month.
Officials noted that the combined value of the cucumbers and meth seized in September totaled more than $5.3 million.
Both Mexican men were arrested and placed into the custody of Homeland Security, which is investigating the cases.
“The impact our CBP officers have on our agency and the wider community goes far beyond the call of duty,” Rosa Hernandez, Otay Mesa Port Director, said in a statement. “This seizure is a true testament of the diligent work ethic our officers possess.”
This isn’t the first time smugglers have been caught trying to sneak hundreds of pounds of drugs through the Otay Mesa port via vegetable crates.
In April, a 48-year-old driver was taken into custody after trying to smuggle about 800 pounds of fentanyl inside a tractor trailer transporting green beans.
As of August, the CBP has seized nearly 90,000 pounds of drugs at the border this year, a sharp increase from the 60,046 pounds confiscated last year.
