Recent federal operations have documented the use of refrigerated cargo trucks carrying agricultural products to conceal synthetic drugs on routes connecting the western part of the country with the Baja California border—particularly Tijuana, one of the primary crossing points into the United States.
The most recent case occurred this Sunday, May 31, when a tractor-trailer traveling from Nayarit was seized carrying nearly a ton of methamphetamine hidden among frozen jícamas inside its refrigerated trailer, within a compartment specially adapted for transporting the illicit cargo.
On July 7, 2025, federal authorities in Tijuana seized more than a ton of methamphetamine hidden in boxes of tomatoes transported in a cargo truck. The vehicle was intercepted at a checkpoint along the “Corredor 2000,” where structural modifications to the trailer were detected.
That same year, at the Otay Port of Entry—also in Tijuana—the seizure of synthetic drugs hidden inside a commercial cargo vehicle was reported; this discovery was made as part of routine inspections conducted at border crossings used for the entry of goods into the United States.
In these instances, the illicit shipments were discovered within hidden compartments, false bottoms, and structural modifications made to refrigerated trailers—all within vehicles ostensibly transporting standard agricultural products intended for general consumption.
