Authorities seized nearly $3 million worth of methamphetamine, hidden among a shipment of onions, during a tractor-trailer's inspection at a federal facility in San Diego, officials announced Friday.

A K-9 unit for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection alerted to the trailer's shipment of onions on Sunday and officers found nearly 1,200 small packages of meth, the agency said Friday in a news release.

The 46-year-old driver, a Mexican national who was not named, was arrested for the alleged narcotic smuggling attempt at the Otay Mesa port-of-entry commercial vehicle facility, officials said.

The packages of meth — more than 1,336 pounds (606 kilograms) — were shaped into small globes with a white covering, the agency said and meant to blend into the onions. The drugs are estimated to be worth $2.9 million on the street.

“This was not only a clever attempt to try and smuggle in narcotics, one I haven’t seen before, but also time-consuming to wrap narcotics into these small packages, designed to look like onions,” said Sidney Aki, CBP Director of Field Operations in San Diego, in the news release. “While we have certainly seen narcotics in produce before, it’s unusual for us to see this level of detail in the concealment.”

Share:
More In Culture
Celebrating Indian Recipes and Flavors With Chef Palak Patel
Chef Palak Patel's love of cooking started when she was a teenager searching for ways to fuse her mother's Indian recipes with some of her favorite American foods. Patel, author of cookbook 'The Chutney Life,' joined Cheddar News to share some of her favorite appetizers and snacks ahead of next month's Diwali festivities.
'Living for the Dead' Cast Joins Cheddar News
'Living for the Dead,' a new series from Kristen Stewart and the team behind 'Queer Eye', recently premiered on Hulu and follows five queer ghost hunters traveling around the country. The show's cast -- Ken Boggle, Roz Hernandez, Juju Bae, Logan Taylor and Alex Le May -- joined Cheddar News to discuss the project and what scary encounters they experienced while filming.
Load More