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CBP Seizes Cocaine during Morning Rush Hour at Tecate
Jun 16, 2009 (DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY DOCUMENTS AND PUBLICATIONS/ContentWorks via COMTEX) --
(Friday, June 12, 2009)
Tecate, Calif. ' During the morning rush hour this week, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Tecate port of entry seized 37 pounds of cocaine, with a street value of about $371,000, hidden in a secret compartment in the dashboard of a car.
On June 10, at approximately 5:05 a.m., a CBP officer referred a 2008 Jeep Patriot driven by a 19-year-old, male U.S. citizen for a more thorough inspection.
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Fourteen packages of cocaine were removed from a hidden compartment behind the dashboard of a Jeep in Tecate, Calif.
After a detector dog alerted to the dashboard of the car, a subsequent gamma ray scan of the vehicle confirmed that there were anomalies in the vehicle's firewall.
Officers discovered a hidden compartment built underneath the vehicle's dashboard in the firewall, and removed 14 packages of cocaine.
Officers arrested the driver, and seized the vehicle and narcotics. CBP turned the driver over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who transported him to the Metropolitan Correctional Center.
"Smugglers will try anything to attempt to move drugs into the United States, including trying to blend in with the morning rush hour," said Scott Jackson, port director at the Tecate port of entry. "Our officers on the front line work intelligently to intercept illegal activity while facilitating the flow of legitimate traffic across the border."
San Diego Sector, CBP Public Affairs, Phone: (619) 216-4182 Ext: 114 or, (619) 652-9966 Ext: 192 (Spanish)
CBP Headquarters, Office of Public Affairs, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Room 3.4A, Washington, DC 20229
Phone:(202) 344-1780 or, (800) 826-1471Fax:(202) 344-1393
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