SALTON CITY, Calif. – El Centro Sector Border Patrol agents assigned to the Indio Station arrested three teenagers for smuggling narcotics Thursday morning.
smuggling scheme.
The incident occurred at approximately 10:50 a.m., when a commercial bus pulled into the primary inspection area of the Highway 86 checkpoint. The inspecting agent referred the bus to secondary for further inspection.
During the secondary inspection, an agent identified a man who admitted to having a fake social security card which he had printed off of the internet. Upon further investigation, the man informed agents that he was in possession of a cell phone that belonged to a woman that was also on board.
A Border Patrol canine team conducted a sniff of the bus. The canine alerted to two teenage girls inside the bus. Agents asked the teenagers if they had any narcotics on them. Both admitted to have illegal substances taped to their groin area. One of the girls confirmed that the man agents detained earlier was traveling with them to make sure the narcotics reached its destination.
Together, the two teenaged girls were transporting 19 vacuum sealed packages of methamphetamine that weighed a total of 7.84 pounds with an estimated street value of $27,440.
The 19-year-old man and the teenaged girls, ages 16 and 18, are all United States citizens. Agents turned custody of the narcotics and suspects over to the Drug Enforcement Administration for further investigation.
Since fiscal year 2018, which started Oct. 1, 2017, El Centro Sector has seized more than 265.51 pounds of methamphetamine.
