(NewsSpace.com) – Drug traffickers often get creative with the way they ship narcotics into the country. Many have been caught at the border trying to sneak thousands of pounds of drugs in with regular goods. Authorities launched Operation Apollo in hopes of combating the threat of narcotics. They struck gold in California, when authorities found thousands of pounds of meth concealed in an inconspicuous shipment headed into the United States.
According to a press release by US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) on Tuesday, March 19, authorities “interdicted packages of methamphetamine” hidden within a large carrot shipment. On Sunday, Agents stopped a 44-year-old man, with a valid border crossing card, driving a commercial truck through the Otay Mesa Commercial Facility near San Diego, California. They flagged the tractor for a secondary inspection, and that’s when they struck the motherload.
During a deeper search, authorities recovered 574 packages containing at least 2,900 pounds of what was tested and determined to be meth. These drugs had a street value worth millions. CBP officers seized the truck and turned the driver over to Homeland Security Investigations to continue the probe.
The seizure was made as a part of Operation Apollo, which was established in 2023, and includes several agencies at the local, state, and federal levels working together “to combat the threat from fentanyl, and other illicit synthetic narcotics.”
Port Director Rosa Hernandez said she “couldn’t be prouder of the exceptional work by [the] CBP officers,” who work hard to seize the drugs before they make it into the US’ interior. These efforts have resulted in the seizure of more than 49,000 pounds of meth already in Fiscal Year 2024. In 2023, they confiscated approximately 140,000 pounds of the stimulant.
The biggest seizure so far this year came in late February, when CBP officials confiscated more than 6.5 tons of meth at the Camino Real International Bridge at Eagle Pass, Texas. The drugs had a street value of approximately $117 million.
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