Border Patrol agents on Thursday arrested a Mexican woman with an American child inside her pickup truck on charges of smuggling methamphetamine.
The incident occurred at approximately 7 a.m. at the checkpoint on Interstate 5 in San Clemente. Agents became suspicious of a 41-year-old woman driving a 2007 Ford F-150 and sent the vehicle to a secondary inspection, where a dog performed a sniff test.
Agents searched the pickup and discovered 15 bundles of methamphetamine hidden behind a rear-seat backrest. An agent then attempted to arrest the woman, who resisted and placed her 9-year-old U.S. citizen daughter between her and the arresting agent. Nearby agents responded, quietly handcuffing the woman and calming the child.
The bundles of meth weighed 24.14 pounds and are valued at $241,400.
The woman was turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration and agents contacted San Diego Child Welfare Services to take custody of the child.