A U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) canine sniffed out nearly $60,000 in drugs earlier this week at a border checkpoint in Arizona.
The canine at a Yuma Sector immigration checkpoint discovered several packages of fentanyl pills hidden inside breakfast burritos stored in a black backpack, CBP said in a statement Tuesday. The backpack was in an unidentified male’s Chevrolet Tahoe.
Agents searched the backpack and discovered the packages of fentanyl that had a combined weight of more than five pounds. The drugs have an estimated value of nearly $60,000, according to the CBP statement.
The 37-year-old driver of the Chevrolet Tahoe, who was not identified by officials, was arrested on Monday, and the drugs were seized.
Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, is a major factor in the U.S. opioid crisis. A study published in JAMA Psychiatry last month found significantly higher rates of opioid overdoses from mid-March of last year to October compared with the same dates in 2019.
The Monday incident is not the first time officials have seized drugs in breakfast foods in recent months. Federal agents in Cincinnati seized nearly $3 million worth of cocaine-coated corn flakes last month, intercepting a large shipment of cereal heading to a private residence in Hong Kong from South America.