Over the past two weeks, Mexican Cartels have lost more than 184 pounds of drugs they were smuggling at the hands of US Border Patrol Agents (and the keen noses of their K-9s) in the San Diego Sector.
Those seizures include 43 packages of drugs inside a car in San Clemente, sniffed out by a Border Patrol K-9 on December 10, 2025. Those packages were found to contain 31 pounds of heroin and 25 pounds of fentanyl.
The U.S. citizen driver was turned over to the DEA for prosecution, and the passenger, who overstayed his visa, is pending deportation and visa cancellation.
Those K-9s have proven their worth time and time again by alerting agents to vehicles that need extra screening amid the long lines of cars and trucks passing through their interstate highway checkpoints.
On December 4, 2025, San Clemente Station Border Patrol Agents seized another 12 pounds of fentanyl that a cartel smuggler had driven across the border from Mexico. The smuggler was determined to be a citizen of Mexico and was arrested for Transportation of a Controlled Substance.
Mexican Cartel attempts to disguise their drugs failed to fool San Diego Sector Border Patrol Agents. What appeared to be five jugs of motor oil inside a car driven by a US citizen turned out to contain 15 pounds of Fentanyl instead. Once again, it was a K-9 that foiled another smuggling attempt.
The Mexican Cartels often use ruses like that one in an attempt to hide their drug loads. In October, Border Patrol Agents discovered that a working car battery inside a vehicle they were inspecting had been modified into a container for 11 pounds of fentanyl.
“The significant quantity of fentanyl and other dangerous narcotics that our agents have seized in the past two weeks represents millions of lethal doses. Whether it is shutting down human traffickers or preventing deadly drugs from entering our country, border security saves lives.” - San Diego Sector Chief Patrol Agent Justin De La Torre
Do you think enough is being done to combat cartel smuggling operations along the border?
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Abrazos,
Jack Beavers
