U.S. Seizes 1,000 Pounds of Cocaine at Calexico Port, Arrests 44-Year-Old Driver
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Jul 30
U.S. Seizes 1,000 Pounds of Cocaine at Calexico Port, Arrests 44-Year-Old Driver
1 articles · Updated · Fox News · Jul 30
Summary
More than 1,000 pounds of cocaine worth over $20 million were found hidden beneath a commercial trailer’s floorboards at the Calexico Port of Entry, and driver Jose Manuel Lopez, 44, was arrested.
CBP officers spotted anomalies during an X-ray inspection of a truck hauling 269 bundles of rebar; after a drug dog alerted, agents removed the load and uncovered 366 cocaine packages weighing about 454 kilograms.
Prosecutors charged Lopez, a Mexican national, with importing cocaine into the United States; he pleaded not guilty, and a detention hearing is set for Aug. 3.
The seizure ranks as the Southern District of California’s second-largest cocaine bust this year, behind a May case that netted more than a ton of cocaine worth about $45 million in a cross-border tunnel probe.