More than 5,000 pounds of smuggled methamphetamine into the United States from Mexico were confiscated in a record confiscation in Southern California, authorities said.
The bust, which was one of the largest methamphetamine seizures ever in San Diego County, came after officers saw a 20-foot commercial box truck crossing the United States through the commercial port of entry of San Diego County. ‘Otay Mesa on Thursday, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California.
“This monumental confiscation represents another victory against the drug cartels that fuel addiction in the United States,” DEA special agent in charge Shelly Howe said.
Federal prosecutors said four suspects from Tijuana, Mexico, were seen unloading dozens of cardboard boxes from the truck and packing them in a Dodge van.
Officers then arrested the suspects in National City, where they found approximately 148 packets of a substance that tested positive for methamphetamine. The total amount weighed more than £ 5,000, authorities said.
The suspects were identified as Rafael Alzua, 37, Mario Contreras, 41, Ethgar Veláquez, 44, and Galdrino Contreras, 41.
If convicted of conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, they face a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison and up to life imprisonment, as well as a $ 10 million fine. It is unclear whether they have hired lawyers who could speak on his behalf.
The suspects, who were charged Friday in federal court, were arrested while sheriff’s detectives tracked down the truck that was connected to another major methamphetamine seizure two months ago, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
Investigators said the seizure represents one of the largest methamphetamine recoveries in San Diego County history.
DEA special agent Rashaad Scott wrote in a sworn statement of probable cause that the same box truck was related to a 1,772-pound methamphetamine seizure in San Diego on May 12, according to the newspaper.
“An alert was put on the vehicle,” Scott wrote.
San Diego County Sheriff’s officials had followed the truck, which first stopped at Otay Mesa, where a driver handed the keys to another man, Scott wrote.
The second driver headed west toward National City, where four suspects loaded the truck’s cargo into two vans waiting for him. The four men denied knowing what was in the packages, the newspaper reported.
Alzua told investigators he had been recruited to “move some boxes,” Scott wrote.
Velázquez said he crossed the border from Tijuana after Mario or Galdrino Contreras asked him to drive a truck. He said he did not know there were narcotics in the vehicle, according to Scott’s affidavit.
The Contreras brothers told officers they thought they were smuggling marijuana and would be compensated for their efforts, Scott said.