The record
Written from the 1 report below. Nothing here is unsourced.
- Federal officers at California's Calexico Port of Entry seized more than 1,000 pounds of cocaine, worth over $20 million, hidden beneath the floorboards of a truck trailer carrying rebar.
- An X-ray scan and a drug-sniffing dog led officers to 366 packages concealed in the trailer floor.
- The driver, 44-year-old Jose Manuel Lopez Lopez, has been arrested and charged with importing cocaine, to which he pleaded not guilty.
- It is the second-largest cocaine seizure in the Southern District of California this year.
What to watch next
- The detention hearing set for Aug. 3 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Lupe Rodriguez Jr.
- The outcome of Lopez's prosecution, which carries a mandatory minimum of 10 years and a possible life sentence
- Whether further border seizures follow, given the year's earlier tunnel-related bust of over a ton of cocaine near Otay Mesa
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1 report
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Named United States · Mexico · Calexico · Otay Mesa · Southern District of California · Customs and Border Protection · Jose Manuel Lopez Lopez · Lawrence Casper · Lupe Rodriguez Jr. · Paul Benjamin · United States Drug Enforcement Administration
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