Sept. 22 (UPI) — U.S. Border Patrol agents seized 105 pounds of smuggled fentanyl pills, less than two weeks after illicit drugs were also recovered in Southern California.
At approximately 4 a.m. Friday, agents assigned to the San Clemente Border Patrol Station stopped a suspicious silver sedan near Avenida Vista Hermosa on Interstate 5, the agency said in a news release . San Clemente is 53 miles north of San Diego.
A Border Patrol K9 team conducted a non-intrusive search of the vehicle and alerted agents to search further.
Agents discovered a large amount of plastic-wrapped packages placed inside trash bags in the car’s truck.
They contained 40 cellophane-wrapped packages with blue fentanyl pills.
The male driver, identified only as a U.S. citizen, was taken into custody. The suspect and narcotics were later turned over to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.
“Transnational Criminal Organizations continue to threaten our communities by bringing dangerous narcotics such as fentanyl into our country,” San Diego Sector Chief Patrol Agent Patricia McGurk-Daniel said. “We will continue disrupting these organizations through our vigilance and the commitments we have made to serve and protect our communities.”