U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the Otay Mesa cargo port of entry seized more than 15 tons of marijuana hidden in a mattress shipment on 26 February 2015.[1][2] At about 6 p.m. a driver arrived with a cargo declared as mattresses and cushions, and an X-ray examination flagged an anomaly that sent the truck to the dock for a closer look.[1] When an officer opened the trailer’s doors, plastic-wrapped packages ran from floor to ceiling and front to back, with only a few mattresses stacked along the far wall.[1][2]
In total officers pulled 1,296 packages holding about 31,598 pounds of marijuana, roughly 14.33 tonnes, with an estimated street value of about $18.96 million.[1][2] The seizure was the largest narcotics bust ever at the crossing and the second largest at any American port of entry, behind only 35,265 pounds taken at Calexico East in 2013.[1][2] Otay Mesa’s previous record had been 19,999 pounds seized in 2003.[1]
Officers turned the driver, a 46-year-old Mexican citizen with a valid border crossing card, over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigators, cancelled his card and booked him into the Metropolitan Correctional Center.[1][2] They seized the tractor, the trailer, the cargo shipment and the drugs.[1] The port director praised her officers for holding their enforcement posture around the clock.[1]
