United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at the port of entry in Otay Mesa, California this week discovered more than ten tons of marijuana hidden in a manifested shipment of plastic garment hangers.
On Monday, November 18 at around 9 a.m., a CBP officer examining trucks that were waiting in line for inspection referred a tractor-trailer driven by a 47-year-old male Mexican citizen for an x-ray examination.
When CBP officers identified an anomaly during the x-ray examination, they sent the vehicle and its cargo to the dock for further examination.
A CBP officer brought a narcotic detection dog to the dock to screen the truck and the dog alerted the officer to the trailer.
CBP officers opened the trailer and searched behind rows of boxes where they discovered plastic-wrapped packages of marijuana stacked all the way to the roof.
“The ability of CBP officers to interdict contraband at the port of entry is a perfect example of CBP’s efforts to secure our border,” said Officer in Charge at the Otay Mesa port of entry Joseph Misenhelter. “CBP officers prevented over 10 tons of marijuana from entering our community.”
Officers discovered a total of 858 packages containing more than ten tons of marijuana with an estimated street value of $8.4 million.
CBP officers canceled the driver’s B1/B2 visa, turned him over to Homeland Security for further processing, and seized the tractor, trailer, cargo shipment, and marijuana.
