Child booster seats were used to hide $60,000 worth of methamphetamine, a startling discovery that was recently made by Border Patrol agents.
Last week, Border agents stopped a vehicle with two adults and their children inside. They were stopped near the Newton Azrak Border Patrol Station checkpoint in Murrieta, California, reported Fox 29 Philadelphia.
According to a press release from US Customs and Border Protection, a K9 officer sniffed out the drug in the children’s three booster seats. The booster seats contained several meth packages. The driver of the vehicle was in possession of more than 26 pounds of meth that was worth $60,000, said authorities. While the mother and children were released, the vehicle's driver, identified as a U.S. citizen, was arrested by agents.
Aaron M. Heitke, Chief Patrol Agent at the San Diego Sector, said that their agents continue to "work around the clock to protect our communities." He added that drug smugglers will use any means necessary to get their poison onto American streets, and that nothing is "sacred to them, not even family."
This comes after Border patrol agents seized $18 million worth of methamphetamine last month. They were being smuggled into Laredo, Texas, from Mexico in a semi-trailer truck.
In April, four U.S. citizens were arrested by Border Patrol agents. They were suspected of trying to smuggle drugs and cash into America in two separate incidents, according to The San Diego Union-Tribune. As per the El Centro sector of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the first incident happened when an agent sent a 2004 Dodge Durango to secondary inspection at the state Route 86 immigration checkpoint in El Centro.
Agents were alerted by a K-9 detection team to a nightstand inside the vehicle with a false compartment. It was used to hide narcotics. The vehicle, the male driver and 64 pounds of methamphetamine worth approximately $244,140 were turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
As for the second incident, it took place when agents with dogs conducting anti-smuggling operations stopped a car. The 2022 Honda Accord was stopped on Interstate 10 at Golf Center Parkway in Indio. As many as 13.5 pounds of fentanyl pills and and 12.2 pounds of cocaine were found by a K-9 detection team in a duffel bag concealed by a blanket. They had a total estimated street value of $418,810. In the vehicle’s center console, agents also found $9,440 in cash that was held together by a rubber band. The vehicle, three people inside the car, cash and drugs were handed over to local law enforcement authorities.
![cocaine](https://d.latintimes.com/en/full/480031/cocaine.jpg?w=696&f=c7d87039a44224c4a55bc10f805abf64)
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