CALEXICO, CA - In all my years of produce reporting, I haven’t seen radishes in a drug bust headline. Now, the same category came under bad happenstance once again within a span of a few days as United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Officers seized a narcotic shipment concealed within pallets of radishes at the Calexico Port of Entry on January 31, 2023.

“Outstanding work by our CBP officers,” said Roque Caza, Port Director for Calexico Port of Entry. “These smuggling attempts are efforts to deceive and misguide us; however, our officers and law enforcement partners are always working together to improve the safety of our communities.”

According to a press release, officers encountered a 24-year-old male driver of a tractor-trailer, with another shipment manifested for radishes. During initial inspection, a CBP officer referred the driver and tractor-trailer for further examination.

At the inspection area, a non-intrusive inspection of the trailer was conducted. Officers also requested a CBP human/narcotic detector dog to screen the shipment—the dog quickly alerted CBP officers to the presence of narcotics.

During the inspection, CBP officers discovered and extracted a total of 1,590 packages that were identified as methamphetamine. The approximate weight of these packages was 4,563 pounds and have an estimated street value of $5,475,600.

We’ll continue to report on the latest news across our industry.