Two vehicle inspections conducted just three minutes apart at a Southern California checkpoint resulted in the seizure of suspected cocaine valued at $9.8 million, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Border Patrol agents recovered more than 1,435 pounds of the suspected drug during the Oct. 25 stops at the San Clemente Border Patrol checkpoint.
Agents from the San Diego Sector directed both vehicles to undergo additional inspection after noticing what authorities described as suspicious behavior. In one instance, a driver tried to reverse out of the checkpoint. The two inspections took place last month, with only minutes separating the encounters, according to the agency's account.
A Border Patrol canine alerted agents to each vehicle. Searches then uncovered 550 vacuum-sealed packages hidden inside black garbage bags. CBP said field testing produced presumptive positive results for cocaine. The agency identified the material as suspected cocaine and placed the combined estimated value of the seizure at nearly $10 million.
Both drivers were arrested following the inspections. The Drug Enforcement Administration subsequently took custody of the two suspects and the suspected narcotics, with federal prosecution pending. The arrests and transfer to the DEA followed the discovery of the packages during the checkpoint searches.
San Clemente Station Patrol Agent in Charge J.D. Scott said the seizure put the checkpoint on course for a record year in narcotics interdictions. In a statement, he linked the station's current enforcement capacity to changes in how agents are being deployed within the San Diego area.
Scott said agents had been sent to the immediate border a few years earlier, where they processed hundreds of people who had entered illegally. With illegal entries in San Diego now at all-time lows, he said, staffing allows the checkpoint to remain open longer and supports a strong Border Patrol presence along the Interstate 5 corridor.
The seizures occurred as the Trump administration pursues a broader crackdown on drug cartels, foreign gangs and transnational criminal organizations. That effort also targets networks involved in human smuggling and drug trafficking.
In a separate Southern District of California case in May, authorities uncovered more than a ton of cocaine with an estimated value of $45 million. That discovery was linked to an alleged cross-border drug tunnel.
