NILAND, Calif. – El Centro Sector Border Patrol agents working at the Highway 111 immigration checkpoint arrested a man suspected of smuggling narcotics Tuesday morning.
The incident occurred at approximately 10:30 a.m., when a 57-year-old man driving a green Ford F-150 truck approached the checkpoint. Agents sent the vehicle to secondary inspection for further investigation after a Border Patrol K-9 detection team alerted to the vehicle.
![Agents discovered a stash of meth behind a truck's cab.](/sites/default/files/u406/1-2-19%20ELC%20Truck.png)
truck's cab.
While in secondary inspection, Border Patrol agents discovered packages hidden inside of the cab wall and at the head of the truck bed. Agents determined that the packages contained a substance that was consistent with the characteristics of methamphetamine.
The total weight of the narcotics discovered was 63.5 pounds of methamphetamine with an estimated value of $127,000.
The man, a Mexican citizen, the narcotics and vehicle were turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).