Border Patrol Makes 'Largest Currency Seizure Ever' in San Diego

ESCONDIDO, CA — A traffic stop this week off Interstate 15 in North County San Diego led to the seizure of more than $3 million in smuggled cash — the largest currency seizure ever by U.S. Border Patrol agents in the San Diego Sector, the agency said Friday.

Mark Endicott, supervisory Border Patrol agent for the San Diego Sector, said the traffic stop was initiated at 1:45 p.m. Tuesday when an agent stopped a Kia Forte on W. Country Club Lane in Escondido after the vehicle exited I-15.

"The agent suspected that the driver of the Kia Forte was driving in tandem with a Volkswagen Passat, which sped off as the vehicle stop was in progress," Endicott said.

Agents, who began searching the Kia after a Border Patrol K-9 alerted them of something suspicious in the car, allegedly found eight vacuum-sealed bundles filled with $33,880 in cash, stashed in the center console.

The man driving the Kia, a 53-year-old U.S. citizen, was arrested.

Meanwhile, Endicott said, agents found the Volkswagen Passat abandoned in a cul-de-sac within the same residential area where the first vehicle stop took place.

"Soon after, the agents found the vehicle’s driver, a 41-year-old male Mexican national, hiding in some brush nearby and arrested him for suspicion of currency smuggling," Endicott said.

Agents searched the Passat, and in the trunk, inside eight boxes, was almost $3.02 million in cash, Endicott alleged.

“This amount of money represents the largest currency seizure ever in San Diego Sector,” said Chief Patrol Agent Richard Barlow. “The hard work and perseverance demonstrated by the involved agents was essential for this outcome.”

The two suspects were turned over to Homeland Security Investigations and are facing federal charges on suspicion of currency smuggling, Endicott said.

Photos courtesy of U.S. Border Patrol San Diego Sector