
$2.9 million worth of meth disguised as onions seized at California border
CBSN
Authorities have seized approximately 1,336 pounds of methamphetamine disguised as onions in Southern California, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Friday. The confiscated drugs are worth an estimated $2.9 million, authorities said.
"This was not only a clever attempt to try and smuggle in narcotics, one I haven't seen before, but also time consuming to wrap narcotics into these small packages, designed to look like onions," Sidney Aki, director of field operations in San Diego, said in a statement.
On February 20, border patrol officers inspected a tractor trailer carrying a shipment indicated as onions. An officer referred the 46-year-old driver and the items for a "more intense examination," where a canine team screened the tractor trailer. A dog alerted to the shipment, which prompted officers to search it further.

In the past year, over 135 million passengers traveled to the U.S. from other countries. To infectious disease experts, that represents 135 million chances for an outbreak to begin. To identify and stop the next potential pandemic, government disease detectives have been discreetly searching for viral pathogens in wastewater from airplanes. Experts are worried that these efforts may not be enough.