Tour Bus Carries $10M Worth of Cocaine from Border: Police

LONG BEACH, CA: A tour bus driven across the U.S.-Mexico border early Tuesday was trailed to an auto shop near Long Beach and found to have 182 pounds of cocaine — with a street value of about $10 million — stashed in a hidden compartment, authorities said.

Three suspects were arrested when authorities served a search warrant at the shop later in the morning.

The contraband was hidden in a compartment fashioned over the left rear wheel well , said El Segundo police Lt. Carlos Mendoza, a member of LA IMPACT — the Los Angeles Interagency Metropolitan Police Apprehension Crime Task Force.

The task force is compromised of investigators from a multitude of local, state and federal agencies.

Mendoza said the bus had been observed crossing the U.S.-Mexico border numerous times in the past. The vehicle aroused suspicion because it was not seen carrying passengers.

When the bus crossed the border at San Ysidro at 4 a.m. Tuesday, investigators followed it to the Wilmington auto shop in the 500 block of North Avalon Boulevard, said Mendoza.

City News Service

(Photos courtesy of the California Department of Justice)