Big Rig Loaded With Pot Seized at Border

SAN DIEGO --

U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Otay Mesa cargo facility arrested a truck driver after they found more than 10,000 pounds of marijuana in the tractor-trailer rig he was driving Wednesday afternoon, CBP officials announced Friday.

CBP officers encountered the 37-year-old Tijuana man at about 3:00 p.m. when he drove into the port from Mexico in a 2000 Freightliner tractor-trailer with cargo manifested as toilet paper and was referred for a more in-depth inspection, CBP officials said.

While the tractor-trailer rig was at the dock in the secondary inspectional area, a narcotic detector dog alerted to the odor of narcotics emanating from the front wall area of the trailer.

Officers found 1,080 wrapped packages of marijuana valued at about $6.5 million hidden within a false front wall compartment in the front of the trailer.

The driver was arrested by special agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and transported to the Metropolitan Correctional Center to await arraignment in federal district court on drug smuggling charges.

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