INDIO, Calif. – El Centro Sector Border Patrol agents arrested two United States citizens accused of smuggling narcotics Wednesday early morning.
At approximately 2:06 a.m., agents conducting anti-smuggling operations on Interstate 10 encountered a 2018 Dodge Ram and conducted a vehicle stop at the Chevron gas station on Jackson Street off the I-10. At this time Border Patrol K-9 detection team assisted. The K-9 sniffed the exterior of the vehicle and altered agents to the presences of narcotics.
Border Patrol agents searched the vehicle’s interior, where they discovered two vacuumed sealed bags concealed inside a speaker box, that was in the floorboard of the rear cabin. One of the packages contained 5.3 pounds of a white crystal-like substance that tested positive for methamphetamine, with an estimated street value of $43,272. The other packages contained 5.6 pounds of blue pills that tested positive for fentanyl, with an estimated street value of $88,900.
The driver and passenger, narcotics, and vehicle were turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
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