14 tons of marijuana seized at Highway 86 checkpoint near Salton City
Border Patrol agents found more than 1,100 bundles of marijuana in a tractor-trailer at the Highway 86 checkpoint near Salton City on the night of 29 September 2011, weighing about 28,300 pounds and valued at over $22.6 million. The 35-year-old driver was arrested and turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration with the drugs and the truck.
🇺🇸 Highway 86 checkpoint near Salton City, Imperial County, California · California, United States
A Border Patrol canine team from the Indio station alerted to a large tractor-trailer during preprimary inspection at the Highway 86 checkpoint near Salton City at about 8 p.m.[1]The 35-year-old driver was sent to secondary inspection, where an imaging scan found anomalies through the cargo, and agents searching the trailer found wooden crates holding bundles that tested positive for marijuana.[1]
Agents counted more than 1,100 bundles weighing about 28,300 pounds (about 12.8 tonnes), which the agency valued at over $22.6 million.[1][2]The agency called it the largest marijuana seizure in El Centro Sector history and one of the biggest checkpoint seizures nationwide.[1]The checkpoint sits on State Route 86, the main road from Mexicali toward Palm Springs, and the haul topped the amounts taken there in all of 2009 and 2010 combined.[2]
The driver was arrested and turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration along with the marijuana and the tractor-trailer.[1][2]A DEA spokeswoman called it the largest marijuana seizure on record in Imperial County.[2]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
The Global Ganja Report dates the seizure to 26 September while the Border Patrol release of 30 September describes it as the previous night; this report uses 29 September.
The reports do not name the driver or say what charges or sentence followed.
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