In a span of around 24 hours, Yuma Sector Border Patrol Agents assigned to the Interstate 8 checkpoint and Dome Valley seized almost $450,000 worth of methamphetamine, cocaine and fentanyl, other than arresting two undocumented immigrants from Mexico.
The first incident happened Friday afternoon, when a canine unit at the checkpoint tipped agents off to the trunk of a Dodge Charger. In it, agents found 230 packages of methamphetamine - that's around 135 pounds worth nearly $312,000 on the street. The driver was immediately arrested for transporting a controlled substance.
The following morning, agents came across a Jeep Compass attempting to go through the checkpoint. Both the 30-year-old driver and the 27-year-old passenger were U.S. citizens but agents say they were smuggling two undocumented immigrants from Mexico - one in the backseat and the other hiding in the back of the car.
A few hours later, agents patrolling the area of Dome Valley and Highway 95 - a route typically taken to avoid the immigration checkpoints - pulled over a car with two U.S. citizens in it. An eventual search turned up seven packages of cocaine and fentanyl hidden throughout the rear passenger and driver-side quarter panels. It was a little over 5 pounds of cocaine, worth more than $66,000 on the street, as well as 13 pounds of fentanyl. Both driver and passenger were arrested for transporting a controlled substance.
