U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers recently discovered over $10 million worth of drugs concealed within a shipment of Jalapeno paste, according to a press release issued by the CBP on Dec. 14.
The press release disclosed that agents at the Otay Mesa Cargo Facility in California detained a vehicle for further inspection, where they found 349 barrels of jalapeno paste in the tractor trailer. Upon further examination, a significant quantity of drugs was uncovered.
The discovered drugs were estimated to have a street value exceeding $10 million and consisted of more than 500 pounds of cocaine and over 3,000 pounds of methamphetamine, as stated in the release. The driver was taken into custody by Homeland Security Investigations, while border patrol officers seized the vehicle and drugs. The San Diego Field Office in California reportedly confiscated over 14,000 pounds of drugs in November alone.
Rosa Hernandez, Otay Mesa Port Director, commended the agents for their work in discovering the drugs. She said, "Our K-9 teams are an invaluable component of our counter-narcotics operations, providing a reliable and unequalled mobile detection capability. By implementing local operations under Operation Apollo and CBP’s Strategy to Combat Fentanyl and other Synthetic Drugs, we will continue to secure communities and stifle the growth of transnational criminal organizations, one seizure after another."
A separate release by CBP from October clarified that Operation Apollo is an initiative in southern California aimed at bolstering law enforcement to enhance counter-drug efforts. This operation emphasizes intelligence and agency collaboration with the goal of disrupting transnational criminal organizations.
