Officers at the San Ysidro Port of Entry found 150 packages of methamphetamine hidden in the quarter panels of a single vehicle, according to a post on X dated Wednesday, September 2, 2026, by Sidney Aki. The seizure adds to what has become a routine, if staggering, tally of narcotics interdictions along San Diego's border crossings this year.
Sidney Aki, Director of Field Operations, shared word of the bust in a post on X, writing that “that car had some serious baggage” before detailing how officers uncovered the packages hidden in the vehicle's quarter panels. According to Aki's post
, the discovery happened at San Ysidro, the port of entry that anchors the busiest land border crossing in the Western Hemisphere. Aki oversees several Southern California ports of entry for
U.S. Customs and Border Protection
San Ysidro alone handles more than 14.8 million personal vehicles a year, per data cited by the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. That relentless volume means some vehicles undergo secondary inspection.
How Smugglers Hide Drugs Inside the Car Itself
Once a vehicle lands in secondary inspection, Non-Intrusive Inspection technology can help officers look for hidden compartments without tearing the car apart. Modified vehicles and concealed spaces can be used to move bulk contraband across the border. The method has appeared in other regional seizures involving drugs concealed in vehicles.
Despite more than $1 billion in federal funding aimed at expanding scanning systems, CBP was only scanning about 8 percent of passenger vehicles with Non-Intrusive Inspection technology at land ports of entry as of fiscal year 2024, according to testimony before the House Committee on Homeland Security. That gap means scanning technology is only one part of the inspection process.
Part of a Bigger Monthly Haul
The San Ysidro find lands amid ongoing narcotics enforcement activity in the San Diego region. Separately, Hoodline reported that officers pulled 872 pounds of liquid meth from a truck's gas tank at Otay Mesa.
The San Ysidro seizure underscores the presence of smuggling attempts at San Diego border crossings. Federal law sets a 500-gram threshold for some methamphetamine offenses. Penalties for methamphetamine offenses can range from 10 years to life in federal prison, and individual fines can reach $10 million, according to the Legal Information Institute.
The announcement provided no details about post-seizure proceedings. It remains unclear from Wednesday's announcement whether a driver was detained in connection with the San Ysidro seizure or what role, if any, that person may have played in the broader smuggling operation.
