SAN DIEGO — U.S. Customs and Border Patrol in San Diego made a major bust on February 29 where a vehicle was discovered to have hundreds of thousands of fentanyl pills inside, totaling more than $11,220,000.
Around 8:20 p.m. on Thursday, February 29, a 37-year-old man approached the border into the United from Mexico in a 2008 sedan, according to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol.
A CBP K9 unit alerted officers to the presence of narcotics inside the glovebox and then the driver was referred for further inspection.
Once inside the second inspection area, CBP said officers extracted 100 packages containing blue pills that were concealed inside the dashboard, glovebox, front panels, and the seats themselves.
“Fentanyl is a very lethal drug that continues to be encountered along our southern border,” said Mariza Marin, Port Director for the San Ysidro Port of Entry. “I’m very proud of the exceptional work by our officers who skillfully interdict illicit narcotics on a daily basis.”
The suspect in this instance was turned over to the custody of Homeland Security for further investigation. CBP seized both the vehicle and narcotics.
These seizures come as part of Operation Apollo, a joint regional, federal, state, and local effort to combat fentanyl trafficking and other synthetic narcotics.
