Man arrested after heroin and methamphetamine found inside car battery

SALTON CITY (KUSI) — El Centro Sector Border Patrol agents from the Indio Station assigned to the Highway 86 checkpoint arrested a man after they found heroin and methamphetamine inside his car’s battery Monday afternoon.

At approximately 1 p.m., a 27-year-old man approached the Border Patrol checkpoint in a black 2013 Dodge Charger.

During primary inspection, the man stated that he was a citizen of Mexico and presented a resident card to the agent.  A Border Patrol detection canine team performed a sniff of the vehicle’s exterior and the canine alerted to the vehicle.  The agent sent the driver to secondary for further inspection.

While in secondary, agents conducted a full inspection of the vehicle and discovered a compartment inside the vehicle’s battery.  Inside the compartment was a smaller battery and three wrapped bundles.  Two bundles were wrapped in clear plastic bags and the other one was wrapped in black electrical tape.

The contents of the clear plastic bags tested positive for methamphetamine and the one wrapped in tape tested positive for heroin.

Nearly 5 lbs. of narcotics were stuffed inside a modified car battery.

"Criminal organizations will go to great lengths in order to carry out their illegal activities," said Chief Patrol Agent Rodney S. Scott.  "I commend our hard-working agents for their exemplary efforts in keeping these harmful drugs out of our communities."

The methamphetamine and heroin had a combined weight of 4.53 pounds and an estimated street value of $49,970.

The man, vehicle, and narcotics were turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration for further investigation.

In fiscal year 2017, El Centro Sector has seized approximately 130 pounds of meth and a little over 20 pounds of heroin.