Agents nab drugs and cash at border

By Kristina Davis, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Monday, June 7, 2010 at 6:21 p.m.

SAN DIEGO — It was a busy weekend at the San Diego border crossings for federal officers who seized more than 3,000 pounds of drugs and confiscated $22,000 in undeclared currency in separate busts, authorities reported Monday.

On Friday, a 42-year-old Mexican truck driver entered the Otay Mesa Port of Entry hauling sea shells. A gamma ray image of the cargo showed anomalies, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers found hiding among the shells 203 bundles of marijuana weighing about 2,400 pounds and 50 packages of methamphetamine weighing about 150 pounds. The street value of the drugs was put at more than $3 million.

On Saturday, a Tijuana man entered the port driving a Toyota pickup with wood furniture in the bed. With help from a gamma ray image and a drug dog, officers found 467 pounds of pot hidden in the furniture, customs officials said.

Both men were taken into federal custody, and the drugs and vehicles were seized.

The next morning, officers conducting southbound inspections at the San Ysidro border crossing stopped a Dodge Stratus. Officers discovered $20,300 stuffed in a speaker box in the trunk and $1,935 on the 20-year-old driver and his two passengers.

The three were released pending further investigation. The cash and vehicle were seized.

Also on Friday, Border Patrol agents on patrol near the international border in Boulevard discovered 135 pounds of marijuana hidden under a pile of branches and wood boards, authorities said. The drugs, with an estimated street value of about $68,000, were seized. No one was arrested.

Kristina Davis: (619) 542-4591; kristina.davis@uniontrib.com

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