Officers with U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recently seized more than 100 pounds of cocaine from a shipment of produce at a California border crossing.
The drug seizure occurred at 6:20 a.m. on March 15 at the Calexico East Cargo Facility in Calexico, California.
CBP says that the truck driver approached the facility with a valid border crossing card and a manifest declaring watermelons.
Following an initial inspection, CBP referred the driver and truck to the dock for “an intensive examination.”
After a canine unit alerted to the shipment of watermelons, CBP searched the cargo and found 22 wrapped packages of cocaine, with a combined weight of nearly 120 pounds, concealed within the plastic pallets.
The estimated street value of the seized drugs is $1.5 million.
The 41 year old truck driver was arrested on drug smuggling charges and turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) for further investigation.
The cocaine, truck, and trailer were seized by CBP.