Women Busted In Two Separate Meth Smuggling Incidents

A U.S. Border Patrol spokesman is reporting the agency intercepted two methamphetamine smuggling attempts this week at the checkpoint near Temecula.

Tuesday around 10:30 a.m., agents assigned to Interstate 15 near the border station flagged a 43 year-old female Mexican national driving a 1997 Acura Integra. 

“Agents became suspicious of the driver and her female passenger, which prompted them to request the assistance of a Border Patrol K-9 team to perform a cursory inspection of the vehicle,” reported U.S. Border Patrol agent Jerry Conlin in a news release today. 

The dog alerted agents to the hood and the rear of the car, and a subsequent search of the vehicle turned up a fire extinguisher on the floor behind the driver’s seat with three pounds of methamphetamine inside, Conlin reported.  Agents located a second extinguisher in the car's trunk with an additional three pounds of the illicit narcotic inside, according to Conlin. 

The meth had an estimated street value of $120,000, Conlin said. 

The driver and her passenger were arrested and the U.S. Border Patrol took possession of the narcotics and vehicle.

The second incident occurred Tuesday around 1:15 p.m. when agents intercepted a 19-year-old U.S. citizen driving a 1997 Ford Escort on the 15 Freeway. Agents became suspicious of the woman driver and her female passenger, so they conducted a vehicle inspection at the border checkpoint, Conlin said. 

With help from a K-9, agents found 12 bundles of methamphetamine inside a spare tire, according to Conlin. The narcotics weighed 15.32 pounds and had an estimated street value of $306,400; the two suspected smugglers and narcotics were turned over to the DEA, Conlin said.

Conlin did not release the names of the alleged smugglers.