Border Patrol seizes $3 million
Two men bound for Mexico are arrested on suspicion of smuggling after cash is found in their cars.
ESCONDIDO, Calif. — More than $3 million destined for Mexico was found in two cars Tuesday, the largest cash seizure ever made by U.S. Border Patrol agents in San Diego County, authorities said Friday.
Two men — one American and the other Mexican — were arrested on suspicion of smuggling U.S. currency in their vehicles.
“It was quite a significant seizure,” said Border Patrol spokesman Mark Endicott. Stacks of crisp $100, $20, $10 and $1 bills were confiscated.
An agent followed a Kia Forte off the 15 Freeway to West Country Club Lane about 1:45 p.m. Tuesday and pulled the driver over, Endicott said. The agent suspected that the Kia was being driven in tandem with a Volkswagen Passat that sped off, he added.
Agents found $33,880 inside eight vacuum-sealed bundles in the Kia’s center console, authorities said. The driver, a 53-year-old American, was arrested.
Endicott said agents fanned out looking for the Passat and found it abandoned on a residential street. The suspected driver, a 41-year-old Mexican man, was found hiding in some brush. Agents found eight cardboard boxes containing $3,018,000 in cash in the car’s trunk.
The two suspects were turned over to the Department of Homeland Security.
“This amount of money represents the largest currency seizure ever in San Diego sector,” Chief Patrol Agent Richard A. Barlow said in a statement. “The hard work and perseverance demonstrated by the involved agents was essential for this outcome.”