One person was arrested after U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Protection agents at a checkpoint in Murrieta found $60,000 worth of methamphetamine stuffed into child booster seats, authorities said.
Agents at the Newton Azrak Border Patrol Station on June 15 stopped a vehicle on the 15 Freeway.
There were two adults and four children inside the car, officials said.
A Border Patrol K-9 team then alerted the agents to the presence of narcotics inside the children’s three booster seats, CBP said in a news release Friday.
Agents examined the children’s seats and found several packages of a white crystal substance that turned out to be meth, CBP officials said.
The driver was found in possession of 26.9 pounds of methamphetamine, with an estimated street value of $60,000, according to the agency.
The driver was arrested on suspicion of attempting to smuggle methamphetamine in the booster seats and the vehicle was seized.
Meanwhile, the four children and their mother were released, officials said.
“Drug smugglers will use any means necessary to get their poison onto our streets. Nothing is sacred to them, not even family,” CBP Chief Patrol Agent Aaron M. Heitke said in a news release.
