A Border Patrol canine sniffed out several packages of fentanyl pills that were hidden inside burritos Monday at an immigration checkpoint in Arizona, according to a Fox News report.
The canine alerted his handler to a 2007 Blue Chevrolet Tahoe at the Yuma Sector Patrol station in Yuma around 3:30 p.m., Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said in a press release.
The handler referred the male driver of the vehicle to the checkpoint’s secondary inspection area where the canine alerted to a black backpack located inside the vehicle.
Agents searched the backpack and discovered several small packages with fentanyl pills that had been stuffed inside breakfast burritos, CBP said. They also found two cellphones and $6,200.
The packages of fentanyl had a combined weight of just over five pounds with an estimated street value of nearly $60,000, according to the report.
CBP said Drug Administration Enforcement (DEA) agents accepted the case. The narcotics, vehicle, and two cell phones were turned over to them, according to the report.
The driver, identified by CBP as 37-year-old, Adrian Salgado-Corona, a Mexican national, lawfully residing in the United States, was arrested and the fentanyl was seized and processed per CBP guidelines.
According to Fox News, CBP told the news outlet that the seizure of fentanyl comes amid an overall “increase in the seizure of drugs in the Yuma Area of Responsibility of late.”