Border Patrol seizes 1,000 fentanyl pills at Highway 111 checkpoint

Following investigation by Border Patrol agents in Southern California — El Centro Sector — some 1,000 fentanyl pills were seized last week at a checkpoint and two United States citizens arrested for smuggling.

A pair of 33-year-old men were detained with what amounted to $6,500 worth of fentanyl stashed in their 2005 Honda Civic, when it approached a Highway 111 checkpoint early in the morning. The alarm was raised when a Border Patrol K-9 detection team sniffed something at the driver’s side window of the vehicle, after it had been waved aside for further investigation.

Agents then inspected the vehicle’s interior, wherein a clear plastic bag containing the blue pills was discovered hidden behind air conditioning vents in the center console of the vehicle. Testing determined their origins as fentanyl, at which point the suspects were seized. Following this, the driver, the vehicle and narcotics were turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration for further action.

Meanwhile, inspection of the passenger turned up a criminal history that included an active warrant from Riverside, Calif., for obstruction. He was detained and processed at the checkpoint, before being turned over to the Imperial County Sheriff’s Office for his outstanding warrant.