1.5 Tons of Marijuana Found in Lettuce Truck
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San Diego - U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Otay Mesa cargo facility seized one and a half tons of marijuana found hidden in a shipment of lettuce during a failed narcotic smuggling attempt Wednesday.
At about 7:15 p.m. on May 18, a 27-year-old male Mexican citizen with a legitimate Border Crossing Card, driving a tractor-trailer with a shipment of lettuce arrived at the border crossing.
The CBP officer referred the driver, truck, and shipment to the dock for a more intensive inspection.
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The shipment of lettuce was unloaded onto the dock, and screened by a CBP officer with a narcotic detector dog. The canine alerted to the cargo.
CBP officers discovered cellophane-wrapped packages hidden in the lettuce shipment. In total, CBP officers found 136 packages of marijuana, weighing about 3025 pounds and worth an estimated $1.8 million.
The driver was arrested and turned over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. He was booked into the Metropolitan Correctional Center, and his border crossing card was cancelled.
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The U.S. Attorney's Office in San Diego accepted the case for prosecution.
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