K 9 team can tell the difference between jalapenos and marijuana worth $2.3 million

(Photo from August 15)

CBP officers assigned to the Otay Mesa cargo facility seized almost four tons of marijuana co-mingled in a shipment of jalapeño peppers, valued at $2.3 million.
“I am proud of the officers for seizing this significant marijuana load,” said Otay Mesa Port Director, Rosa Hernandez.  “Not only did they prevent the drugs from reaching our community, they also prevented millions of dollars of potential profit from making it into the hands of  a transnational criminal organization.”

On Aug. 15, at about 6:15 p.m. a 37-year-old male Mexican citizen entered the port of entry driving a tractor pulling a trailer with cargo manifested as jalapeño peppers.  The CBP officer subsequently referred the truck to secondary.

CBP officers pulled hundreds of
packages of marijuana from boxes
of jalapeño peppers.

When the conveyance arrived to the dock, a canine team roving the area alerted to the palletized shipment of peppers.  CBP officers probed the shipment and discovered a leafy-green like substance that field-tested positive for the properties of marijuana.

CBP officers extracted 314 large wrapped packages of marijuana co-mingled within the shipment of jalapeño peppers, weighing 7,560 pounds.

CBP seized the truck and marijuana.

This interdiction follows a 10,642 pound marijuana seizure in a shipment of plastic auto parts that occurred on Aug. 13 at the cargo facility.