SAN DIEGO — U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers working at the Otay Mesa passenger port of entry Monday arrested a man after they discovered 1,374 pounds of marijuana hidden inside the moving truck he was driving.
On Oct. 5, at about 3 p.m., a 30-year-old male U.S. citizen driving a moving truck with boxes and household goods was waiting in line for inspection. A CBP canine team was roving the area when the detector dog alerted to the front wall of the truck. The driver and truck were escorted for an intensive examination.
CBP officers screened the moving truck using the port’s imaging system and found anomalies with the front end of the cargo area. Officers offloaded the household goods and boxes and found 54 large packages stuffed in various moving boxes. CBP officers determined the packages contained marijuana, with an estimated street value of more than $824,000.
The driver was turned over to the custody of Homeland Security Investigations special agents.
CBP officers seized the moving truck, its entire contents, and the marijuana.
In fiscal year 2014, CBP officers at the ports of entry along the California border with Mexico seized 132,075 pounds of marijuana.