$270K In Meth Found In I-8 Border Patrol Stops, Agency Reports

SAN DIEGO COUNTY, CA – Border Patrol agents intercepted two separate narcotics hauls worth nearly $270,000 this weekend along Interstate 8 in San Diego County, agency officials report.

According to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's San Diego Sector office, agents patrolling I-8 arrested two men who each had more than 40 pounds of meth hidden inside their vehicles.

Agents first stopped a 21-year-old Mexican national in a 2003 Toyota Corolla around 2 p.m. Saturday near Pine Valley, a community in southeastern San Diego County, officials said. The man had reportedly been driving with a flat tire and his car was fishtailing.

"Agents initiated a vehicle stop and the man claimed to be unaware of the flat tire," Mary Beth Caston of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a news release. "During the conversation, the agent’s K-9 alerted to the man’s Toyota. A search of the sedan revealed nine bundles of methamphetamine stashed inside the back-seat upholstery."

Caston said the bundles weighed 41.01 pounds and the estimated street value was $139,434.

In a separate incident, agents pulled over a 29-year-old U.S. citizen and his five passengers about 8 a.m. Sunday just east of Kitchen Creek on I-8, officials said. As agents questioned the male driver, a nearby K-9 alerted to the man’s 2015 Dodge Challenger.

"A search of his car revealed seven bundles of crystal methamphetamine buried inside the front and rear seats," Caston said. "The driver was arrested and his female passenger and her four children were taken to a nearby station."

Caston said the meth bundles weighed 40.68 pounds and the estimated street value was $130,176.

In both instances, the suspected smuggler and narcotics were turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration, while the vehicles were seized by the U.S. Border Patrol. The names of the suspects were not disclosed.

– Images courtesy of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection