U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in California discovered $5 million worth of methamphetamine disguised as watermelons last week, the agency said Tuesday.
A 29-year-old man driving a commercial tractor-trailer ran into trouble with CBP officers at the Otay Mesa Commercial Facility in San Diego on Friday as he was trying to enter the U.S. from Mexico, the agency said.
The man said he was bringing a shipment of watermelons across the border, according to the CBP statement. Officers sent the driver, his vehicle and its cargo for further examination after the first checkpoint.
The supposed shipment of watermelons was offloaded from the truck in the secondary inspection area, where, upon further inspection, CBP said, officers found "1,220 packages wrapped in paper, disguised as watermelons within the shipment."
"The contents of the packages were tested and identified as methamphetamine, with a total weight 4587 pounds," CBP said. "The estimated street value of the drugs exceeds $5 million dollars."
CBP officers seized the narcotics and the tractor-trailer, the agency said, and the driver was turned over to Homeland Security Investigations for further investigation.
"I am incredibly proud of our team for their exceptional work over the past few weeks in uncovering sophisticated and diverse smuggling methods," said Rosa E. Hernandez, port director for the Area Port of Otay Mesa. "As drug cartels continue to evolve their smuggling techniques, we will continue finding new and better ways to prevent these dangerous drugs and other contraband from entering the country."
Just one week before, CBP officers at the same facility intercepted 629 pounds of the same drug, this time concealed in a shipment of celery, according to a separate release from the agency. That shipment had an estimated street value of $755,000.
According to CBP, both seizures are the result of Operation Apollo, which is described as a "holistic counter-fentanyl effort" that began in October in Southern California and expanded to Arizona in April.
The operation "focuses on intelligence collection and partnerships, and utilizes local CBP field assets augmented by federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial partners to boost resources, increase collaboration, and target the smuggling of fentanyl into the United States," CBP said.
