San Diego: 25 kilos of cocaine seized at checkpoint

25 kilos of cocaine seized outside San Diego

Less then 2 weeks after nearly 375 kilos were seized in Santa Fe Springs and San Bernardino, another 25 fall in San Clemente, 30 minutes outside San Diego, last Friday, June 19th.  The checkpoint is a frequent interdiction point, though it is open and active, in erratic times and hours.

Last year in two separate incidents nearly 50 kilos were seized, and 1.5 million in cash.  The San Clemente stop is the last, and only checkpoint between San Diego and Los Angeles, a major trafficking and distribution point.  

In this instance a 30 year old U.S citizen was contacted by US Customs and Border Protection, at a rest stop about 6 miles before the checkpoint.  It can be inferred the driver was waiting for communication via phone that the checkpoint was either open or closed.

Drivers that fit a description or spend too much time in the rest stop are likely spotted by ICE officers, and contacted for further review, similar to how the exits around a DUI checkpoint are monitored, for drivers attempting to avoid the stop. 

After a consent search the officers found 25 packages of cocaine, weighing 67 pounds, and turned the driver over to the DEA. The product was estimated at nearly a million dollars, 871,000, which is roughly 29,000 per kilo.  

Sources: UT San Diego and AFN Tijuana