INDIO, Calif. – El Centro Sector Border Patrol agents assigned to the Indio Station arrested a Mexican national on Sunday night, who is suspected of attempting to smuggle narcotics through an immigration checkpoint.
At 9:50 p.m. a tractor-trailer approached the Highway 86 immigration checkpoint. A Border Patrol K-9
detection team operating at the primary inspection point alerted to the tractor-trailer and referred it for further inspection. During inspection of the tractor’s interior cabin, agents discovered 17 packages concealed under a mattress. Samples of the packages were taken and were consistent with the characteristics of narcotics.
Upon testing, agents confirmed that the driver of the tractor was in possession of 7 pounds of fentanyl with an estimated street value of $69,000 and 33 pounds of cocaine with an estimated street value of $270,000.
The driver and narcotics were turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration. The tractor-trailer was seized by the Border Patrol. In May alone, this is the fourth tractor-trailer seized by El Centro Sector Border Patrol agents for transporting illegal narcotics.
“Foreign national drug smugglers, for some odd reason, think tractor-trailers might be a great way to transport drugs,” said El Centro Sector Chief Patrol Agent Gregory Bovino. “Indio Border Patrol agents know more than you think, and whether it’s undocumented persons or meth being transported, you will face consequences in this sector.”
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