PINE VALLEY, Calif. _ Border Patrol agents arrested a 25-year-old mother Tuesday night at a freeway checkpoint in San Diego County after finding nearly 68 pounds of methamphetamine inside the SUV she was driving with her 6-year-old son inside, authorities said.
The woman, a Mexican citizen, pulled up to an Interstate 8 checkpoint in Pine Valley, east of San Diego, around 9 p.m. driving a 1999 Ford Expedition, Border Patrol officials said in a statement. Agents at the checkpoint sent her to a secondary inspection area where a drug-sniffing dog zeroed in on the rear door of the SUV, authorities said.
Agents searched the inside panels of the Expedition and a spare tire, turning up 65 bundles of crystal methamphetamine with a total weight of 67.68 pounds, authorities said.
Officials said the estimated street value of the drugs was more than $179,000.
Agents arrested the mother, placed the boy with Child Protective Services, seized the SUV and turned the drugs over to the San Diego County Sheriff's Department, officials said.
