{"id":3247,"date":"2024-08-22T21:43:55","date_gmt":"2024-08-22T21:43:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/?p=3247"},"modified":"2024-08-22T21:43:56","modified_gmt":"2024-08-22T21:43:56","slug":"u-s-border-patrol-discovers-5m-worth-of-narcotics-concealed-in-watermelon-cargo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/?p=3247","title":{"rendered":"U.S. border patrol discovers $5M worth of narcotics concealed in watermelon cargo”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

United States border agents have intercepted a truck carrying more than $5m-worth of methamphetamine at the US-Mexico border hidden inside a shipment of watermelons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The drugs were wrapped in plastic painted in two shades of green to resemble the fruit and placed among real watermelons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than two tonnes of methamphetamine \u2013 in a total of 1,220 packages \u2013 was seized by officers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stashing drugs among produce is a common way to smuggle the illicit substances across borders \u2013 banana shipments are the most popular but officers have recently found narcotics in Gouda cheese and avocados.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

US Customs and Border Protection officials said their officers had stopped a truck hauling a trailer at the border with Mexico in Otay Mesa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The paperwork suggested the driver was transporting a shipment for watermelons, but a inspection revealed the parcels containing methamphetamine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also known simply as meth, it is a powerful and highly addictive stimulant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The driver was handed over to Homeland Security officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The seizure came a week after officials at the same border crossing discovered almost 300kg of meth in a shipment of celery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both hauls came to a total value of $6m, according to CBS News<\/a>, the BBC\u2019s US partner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mexican drug cartels are the leading producers and suppliers of methamphetamine to the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In February, Mexican security forces seized more than 40 tonnes of the drug at the biggest lab to be discovered in recent years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mexican officials said the lab boasted more than 200 centrifuges, boilers and condensing chambers \u2013 key equipment used to make the chemical.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

United States border agents have intercepted a truck carrying more than $5m-worth of methamphetamine at the US-Mexico border hidden inside a shipment of watermelons. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3248,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3247","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3247","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3247"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3251,"href":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3247\/revisions\/3251"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sbmediaonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}