U.S. Border Patrol agents arrested a 29-year-old man at a freeway checkpoint in Pine Valley after allegedly finding just over 38 pounds of methamphetamine stashed in his car’s gas tank, authorities reported Wednesday.
The man, a U.S. citizen, drove a 2008 Nissan Altima to the westbound Interstate 8 checkpoint around 7:10 p.m. Tuesday, Border Patrol officials said.
Agents at the checkpoint questioned the driver while a drug-sniffing dog alerted them to send the car to a secondary inspection area. During the secondary inspection, agents used the drug-sniffing dog again and were alerted to the rear of the vehicle, where they allegedly found 32 plastic-wrapped bundles of crystal methamphetamine weighing nearly 38-and-a-half pounds inside the car’s gas tank.
Officials estimated the street value of the drugs to be nearly $73,000.
Agents arrested the driver, seized the vehicle and turned the drugs over to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
–City News Service