Agents assigned to the U.S. Border Patrol’s San Diego Sector seized a substantial quantity of illicit fentanyl in the Orange County region on September 20; the second of two significant fentanyl seizures in the last two weeks. The event took place near Avenida Vista Hermosa on Interstate 5.
At approximately 4:00 a.m., agents assigned to the San Clemente Border Patrol Station stopped a suspicious silver sedan on the I-5. A Border Patrol K9 team trained to detect the presence of concealed people, narcotics, and other contraband conducted a non-intrusive search of the vehicle and alerted agents to search further.
Agents inspected the vehicle’s trunk and discovered plastic-wrapped packages inside of black trash bags, consistent with the packaging of smuggled narcotics. The suspected narcotics, vehicle, and adult male U.S. citizen driver were then transported to a nearby Border Patrol station for further investigation.
At the station, agents removed 40 cellophane-wrapped packages containing blue pills. Agents tested the pills and received a positive result for fentanyl. The total weight of the fentanyl pills was 105 pounds. The driver and the narcotics were turned over to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department for prosecution on state charges and the vehicle was seized by U.S. Border Patrol.
“Transnational Criminal Organizations continue to threaten our communities by bringing dangerous narcotics such as fentanyl into our country. We will continue disrupting these organizations through our vigilance and the commitments we have made to serve and protect our communities,” said San Diego Sector Chief Patrol Agent Patricia McGurk-Daniel.
Border Patrol agents made another large fentanyl seizure on Interstate 8 two weeks ago. More details on that seizure are found here.
