Feds seize $1.5 million worth of cocaine near Blythe CA.

Federal agents seize $1.5 million worth of cocaine near Blythe

November 29, 2010 | 10:50 am

U.S. Border Patrol agents seized 47 pounds of cocaine worth about $1.5 million at a vehicle checkpoint near Blythe in eastern Riverside County, officials said.

Agents at the checkpoint on Highway 95 were alerted to a red Chevrolet Blazer with Mexican license plates by a drug-sniffing dog, said Agent Robert Lowry, a spokesman for the Border Patrol sector based in Yuma, Ariz.

During a secondary inspection, Lowry said, agents noticed that the air conditioning controls on the ceiling of the vehicle were held together by screws. After removing the controls, they discovered 18 bundled packages of cocaine hidden inside, he said.

The 36-year-old driver, a Mexican citizen, and the cocaine were turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration, officials said.

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