About $1.3 million worth of methamphetamine was seized at a Otay Mesa checkpoint after being discovered hidden within a shipment of fresh produce and wrapped in paper photos of spinach, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said Friday.
About 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, officers encountered a driver of a tractor pulling a trailer with a shipment purported to be fresh spinach.
During an inspection, an officer referred the driver to the port’s X-ray imaging system, officials said in a news release.
Officers then found abnormalities within the shipment and referred the driver to a “more intensive inspection at the dock area.” There, a canine team screened the truck and a detector dog discovered the shipment.
Officers searched the shipment and discovered 127 wrapped packages of meth mixed with boxes of fresh spinach, which weighed more than 580 pounds, officials said.
The driver, described only as a 49-year-old Mexican citizen, was turned over to the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations agents.
He was later transported to a corrections facility in San Diego and will face federal charges, officials said.
