Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials have commended San Diego Field Office personnel for seizing $7.8 million worth of dangerous drugs in the week leading up to Memorial Day.
“Narcotics smuggling continues to be on the rise and our officers will relentlessly continue doing everything they can to keep our communities safe,” San Diego CBP Director of Field Operations Sidney Aki said. “Remaining vigilant for something that looks out of place and keeping a keen eye for unusual travel patterns is what our officers are trained for and what they do best.”
According to CBP, the work of officers included actions on May 19 at the Calexico port of entry where 78 packages with a total weight of 109.17 pounds were discovered and extracted from the rear quarter panels, doors, seats, and speaker box of a vehicle, resulting in the identification of fentanyl pills with an estimated street value of $3 million; actions at the San Ysidro port of entry on May 23 in which 40 packages with a total weight of 77.21 pounds were discovered and extracted from the rear doors and gas tank of a vehicle and identified as fentanyl pills with an estimated street value of $2,101,200; and May 19 actions at the Tecate cargo facility in which 50 packages with a total weight of 123.46 pounds were discovered and extracted from the gas tank of a vehicle, with the narcotics identified as cocaine with an estimated street value of $2 million.
The CBP cited Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) statistics maintaining that over 150 people die every day from drug overdoses related to synthetic opioids derived from fentanyl.