More than $41,000 worth of methamphetamine was found hidden in a pickup truck’s spare tire at a Border Patrol checkpoint in Imperial County, officials announced Friday.
The drugs were discovered about noon Thursday at a checkpoint near Ocotillo on the Imperial Highway, said Juan Gonzalez, a spokesman for the U.S. Border Patrol’s El Centro Sector. A 39-year-old man, described as a legal permanent resident of the U.S., was arrested and turned over to the Drug Enforcement Agency.
The man approached the checkpoint driving a Chevrolet pickup and was referred to secondary inspection when drug-sniffing dogs alerted on the underside of the truck, Gonzalez said. Agents searching the truckthe spare tire.
The packages weighed 12.9 pounds and are worth $41,600, Gonzalez said. The drugs and pickup were also turned over to DEA agents for further investigation.
Since the start of the fiscal year on Oct. 1, the El Centro Sector has seized more than 978 pounds of methamphetamine, authorities said.
—City News Service
