Cocaine, meth found in fuel tank at Salton City checkpoint

SALTON CITY, Calif. (KABC) -- A couple suspected of smuggling drugs in their car's fuel tank on Thursday in Salton City has been arrested.

At around 7 a.m., El Centro Sector Border Patrol agents assigned to the Indio Station took the 33-year-old female driver and her 24-year-old male passenger into custody at the Highway 86 checkpoint after they discovered packages of methamphetamine and cocaine inside their car, according to the El Centro Sector Border Patrol.

A Border Patrol detection canine alerted agents to the vehicle, and it was taken for a secondary inspection. After an intensive search, agents discovered 45 vacuum sealed bundles of meth and one bundle of cocaine hidden inside the fuel tank.

The methamphetamine had a combined weight of 52.2 pounds with an estimated street value of $522,000. The cocaine weighed 11.2 ounces and had an estimated street value of $14,560.

The man and woman, both U.S. citizens, the vehicle, and narcotics were turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration for further investigation.

In fiscal year 2014, El Centro Sector seized more than 445 pounds of methamphetamine and 148 pounds of cocaine.