Driver arrested with drugs, daughter in SUV
Border Patrol agents arrested a woman with 40 pounds of drugs and her 11-year-old daughter in her SUV in Pine Valley on Thursday, authorities said.
Agents found heroin, crystal methamphetamine and Fentanyl worth nearly $500,000 in a hidden dashboard compartment, according to the United States Border Patrol.
The 33-year-old driver was stopped at the Interstate 8 checkpoint west of Pine Valley about 10 a.m. A drug-sniffing dog reacted to the Pontiac Torrent, so agents searched the SUV.
They found the compartment with 20 bundles of drugs: five packages of heroin weighing a total of 10.8 pounds, 13 bundles of meth weighing a total of 25.9 pounds, and two bundles of Fentanyl weighing 4.8 pounds. The total street value was estimated at $483,720.
The driver, a legal permanent resident from Mexico, was turned over to a task force led by the Drug Enforcement Administration and her daughter was turned over to Child Protective Services.
