Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents seized over 120 pounds of methamphetamine hidden inside an SUV trying to enter California.
The incident took place when Robert Anthony Rodriguez, a U.S. citizen, approached the San Ysidro port of entry from Tijuana. He told an officer he lives in Los Angeles and had gone to Tijuana to get his car fixed and to visit "girlfriends."
According to Border Report, the CBP agent noticed Rodriguez had a protective order filed against him. He was then sent to a secondary inspection area, where his car was put through an X-ray-like machine.
Another officer then noticed anomalies in the car's rear panels, prompting a call to a drug-sniffing dog, which indicated the presence of narcotics. Officers then found 108 packages of meth weighing some 123 pounds, according to the criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. Rodriguez was arrested and has a preliminary hearing set for early July.
Several such cases have taken place over the past weeks. In early May, CBP officers at the Eagle Pass International Bridge, one of the busiest border crossings in Texas, confiscated a shipment of methamphetamine valued at more than $3.3 million after finding the substance hidden inside a vehicle's floorboard.
According to a statement from CBP, the episode took place when officers encountered a 39-year-old woman entering the United States from Mexico. Her vehicle was then referred for secondary inspection, which included nonintrusive scanning equipment and a canine team.
A closer search of the 2014 Kia Sorento led CBP and Office of Field Operations officers to find 74 packages of suspected methamphetamine concealed in the vehicle's floorboard. The narcotics weighed approximately 164 pounds and had an estimated street value of more than $3.3 million, CBP said.
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