$174K worth of meth found in gas tank of vehicle

Border Patrol agents arrest man after allegedly finding methamphetamine inside the gas tank of his vehicle.

The incident occurred Saturday afternoon at the Highway 86 immigration checkpoint. A 24-year-old man approached the checkpoint in a 2010 Dodge Charger. Agents referred the vehicle for further examination based on a K-9 team alert.

Once there, the Border Patrol detection K-9 team alerted again to the vehicle. After a thorough inspection, agents discovered 45 vacuum sealed packages of narcotics inside the gas tank of the vehicle.

The content of the 45 packages tested positive for methamphetamine and weighed a total of 54.5 pounds. The estimated street value of the seizure is $174,400.

The driver, a legal permanent resident, was turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration along with the vehicle and the narcotics.

In the fiscal year 2017, El Centro Sector has seized approximately 874 pounds of methamphetamine.