'Monumental Seizure' After Truck Crosses Into US

4 men arrested in Calif. for drug trafficking, accused of transporting 5K pounds of meth
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 9, 2022 9:00 AM CDT
'Monumental Seizure' After Truck Crosses Into US
Stock photo.   (Getty Images/Sanny11)

When California law enforcement agents started trailing a truck this week in San Diego County, little did they know they were about to make a huge bust—one that's now being deemed one of the county's largest ever seizures of methamphetamine. City News Service reports four men from Tijuana, Mexico, have been hit with federal drug trafficking charges after the Thursday incident, which began when a box truck that had just made its way into the United States aroused agents' suspicions. Per a statement from the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of California cited by ABC News, the truck crossed into the United States via the Otay Mesa Commercial Port of Entry around 5pm, then made a stop in National City, where the men began moving dozens of boxes from the truck into a Dodge van.

That's when agents swooped in and say they found 148 bundles of a substance inside the cardboard boxes, weighing upward of 5,000 pounds in total. The substance later tested positive for meth. The men—Rafael Alzua, 37; Mario Contreras, 41; Galdrino Contreras, 41; and Ethgar Velazquez, 44—were arrested and charged with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. US Attorney Randy Grossman is praising the "monumental seizure," which could bring each of the suspects 10 years to life behind bars, as well as a $10 million fine, if they're convicted. "This is a significant accomplishment," Grossman notes. "Due to stellar work by law enforcement agents, the government stopped more than 5,000 pounds of methamphetamine from being distributed on our streets." (More methamphetamine stories.)

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