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San Diego, Calif. - Workers unloading a shipment of Mexican television stands and carts in an Otay Mesa warehouse discovered tons of marijuana mixed in, federal officials said yesterday.
Federal agents seized 15,433 pounds of pot yesterday valued at more than $4.5 million, said Lauren Mack, spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, one of two Department of Homeland Security agencies investigating the find.
"This is definitely a first," she said, "where a smuggler has lost his drug load."
Marijuana smugglers are regularly caught bringing tractor-trailer loads through the commercial lanes at the Otay Mesa border crossing, but typically as a result of tips and surveillance or because of drug-sniffing dogs.
In this case, a driver crossed the border without a problem and drove to a nearby warehouse about 3 p.m. Tuesday, where workers began unloading the television furniture from his 53-foot truck, Mack said.
"The marijuana had been wrapped in pharmaceutical boxes, Home Depot boxes and heavy duty garbage bags," she said.
Warehouse owners and the trucking company reported the find to federal agents, who interviewed the 32-year-old Mexican driver but had no cause to arrest him.
The truck is used by three Mexican companies, Mack said, and agents were investigating how the truck got past border inspectors.
"These smugglers made a mistake and somehow there was a communication breakdown between the smugglers as to where this marijuana was going to be unloaded," she said.
Source: The San Diego Union-Tribune
Copyright: Copyright 2005 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Contact: https://www.signonsandiego.com/about/signon/contacts.html
Website: The San Diego Union-Tribune - San Diego, California & National News
Federal agents seized 15,433 pounds of pot yesterday valued at more than $4.5 million, said Lauren Mack, spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, one of two Department of Homeland Security agencies investigating the find.
"This is definitely a first," she said, "where a smuggler has lost his drug load."
Marijuana smugglers are regularly caught bringing tractor-trailer loads through the commercial lanes at the Otay Mesa border crossing, but typically as a result of tips and surveillance or because of drug-sniffing dogs.
In this case, a driver crossed the border without a problem and drove to a nearby warehouse about 3 p.m. Tuesday, where workers began unloading the television furniture from his 53-foot truck, Mack said.
"The marijuana had been wrapped in pharmaceutical boxes, Home Depot boxes and heavy duty garbage bags," she said.
Warehouse owners and the trucking company reported the find to federal agents, who interviewed the 32-year-old Mexican driver but had no cause to arrest him.
The truck is used by three Mexican companies, Mack said, and agents were investigating how the truck got past border inspectors.
"These smugglers made a mistake and somehow there was a communication breakdown between the smugglers as to where this marijuana was going to be unloaded," she said.
Source: The San Diego Union-Tribune
Copyright: Copyright 2005 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Contact: https://www.signonsandiego.com/about/signon/contacts.html
Website: The San Diego Union-Tribune - San Diego, California & National News
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