Almost $3 million worth of methamphetamine disguised as an onion shipment was seized in San Diego, according to Patch.com.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced the incident on Sunday, February 27. Officers stopped a 46-year-old driver of a tractor-trailer with a shipment that looked like onions on February 20 at 1:00 P.M.
During the inspection, officers moved the driver along for a more intensive examination of his cargo. A K-19 team screened the truck and trailer alerted officers of hidden packages. Officers then discovered 1,197 packages of meth coming in at around 1,336 pounds. According to CBP, the narcotics have an estimated street value of $2.9 million.
"This was not only a clever attempt to try and smuggle in narcotics, one I haven't seen before, but also time consuming to wrap narcotics into these small packages, designed to look like onions," said Sidney Aki, CBP Director of Field Operations in San Diego. "These efforts show how effective our officers are, and as a response, the lengths drug trafficking organizations are willing to go to as they try to smuggle narcotics into the U.S. While we have certainly seen narcotics in produce before, it's unusual for us to see this level of detail in the concealment."