CBP Confirms Nearly 2.8-Ton Meth Seizure In Otay Mesa Was Largest Ever At U.S.-Mexico Border
LAPPL News Watch
August 13, 2021
U.S.
Customs and Border Protection officials confirmed Monday that last
week’s discovery of more than 5,528 pounds of methamphetamine at the
Otay Mesa Port of Entry was the largest bust of its kind ever made along
the U.S.-Mexico border.
The methamphetamine, and an accompanying 127
pounds of fentanyl powder that officers discovered Thursday, had an
estimated street value of more than $12.9 million, according to customs
officials.
“This amount of fentanyl and methamphetamine is enough to
ruin countless lives and fund transnational criminal organizations,”
Pete Flores, CBP’s director of San Diego Field Operations, said in a
statement. “I’m proud of our officers’ efforts at all ports of entry
within the San Diego Field Office to intercept this and all smuggling
attempts.”
According to a criminal complaint filed by federal
prosecutors last week, 53-year-old Mexican citizen Carlos Gerardo
Symonds Saavedra drove a semitrailer through the Otay Mesa cargo entry
lanes around 5:30 p.m. Thursday, presenting paperwork that stated he was
hauling plastic parts.
A computer-generated alert system prompted
customs officers to refer the truck to a secondary inspection area,
where an X-ray machine detected anomalous packages mixed in with the
plastic parts, according to the complaint.
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