Meth seizures high at SD border

San Diego remains an important corridor for illicit drug shipments into the United States, accounting for a large portion of the seizures of methamphetamine, cocaine and heroine seized by the U.S. Border Patrol across the country during the 2014 federal fiscal year from Oct. 1, 2013, through Sept. 30, 2014.

The agency’s methamphetamine seizures in the San Diego sector accounted for nearly half, or 47.7 percent, of the volume of the drug seized overall by the Border Patrol, according to figures released Monday by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The agency’s San Diego seizures also accounted for 38.2 percent of the cocaine and 31.3 percent of the heroin, but only 1 percent of the marijuana seizures.

The Border Patrol is responsible for patrolling the 60 miles of land border shared with Mexico and 114 miles of coastal border. While marijuana seizures fell from the previous fiscal year, seizures of the other three drugs rose, according to DHS.

Smugglers also continue to ship drugs through California’s ports of entry, according to DHS figures for U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Field Operations. Seizures at California ports of entry accounted for 63 percent of the methamphetamine seized at ports of entry nationwide, as well as 39 percent of the heroin, 30 percent of the marijuana, and 12 percent of the cocaine.

The DHS figures also show that the Border Patrol’s San Diego sector apprehended 29,911 persons for illegal entry into the country out of 486,651 persons aprehended by the agency nationwide, or about 6.1 percent. This represents a 8.78 percent increase over fiscal 2013, but far lower than the 162,390 apprehensions in 2008, or the record of 628,370 apprehensions in 1986.

At ports of entry, CBP officers detained close to 33,000 immigration violators in fiscal 2014, the figures show.