480 pounds of cocaine valued at approximately $7.6 million was seized in Calexico, California.
The seizure was on Thursday October 29, 2020. A 46-year-old driver of a 2008 Ford F350 pick-up truck attempted to smuggle cocaine concealed in the auxiliary fuel tank located on the bed of the truck. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer referred the driver and vehicle for further examination due to inconsistencies with the driver’s story.
As the truck drove through the x-ray imaging system, the operator identified anomalies in the bed area of the vehicle. Officers screened the vehicle with a K-9 and the detector dog alerted to the non-factory auxiliary fuel tank located on the bed of the truck.
Officers searched the vehicle and discovered 182 packages of cocaine weighing 480 pounds hidden in a special compartment inside the non-factory auxiliary fuel tank of the truck. Officers immediately arrested the suspect and turned him over to Homeland Security Investigations for further disposition. Officers seized the vehicle and narcotics.
The driver is a U.S. Citizen; he was transported and booked into the GEO Federal Detention Facility in El Centro, California.
