Customs and Border Protection officers at the San Ysidro Port of Entry pulled over 98 pounds of fentanyl and 36 pounds of cocaine out of a single vehicle, and federal prosecution was accepted in the case. The seizure, described as a “successful double interdiction,” was announced Thursday.
Director of Field Operations Sidney Aki announced the bust in a post on X, writing that officers had seized “over 98 lbs of fentanyl and 36 lbs of cocaine from one vehicle” and that federal prosecution had been accepted in the case. As is typical of these social media disclosures, according to Sidney Aki's post
, the announcement did not include the driver's identity, the vehicle's make or model, or details from any formal charging documents.
The seizure involved roughly 44 kilograms of fentanyl and about 16 kilograms of cocaine.
A Border Crossing Built for Volume, and for Concealment
San Ysidro is a land border crossing.
Who Actually Gets Caught Carrying the Drugs
A Cato Institute analysis of a Freedom of Information Act dataset found that U.S. citizens made up 80.9 percent of people arrested with fentanyl at land ports of entry between fiscal years 2019 and mid-2024. Fentanyl is smuggled primarily in vehicles driven by U.S. citizens.
The bust also lands amid a broader tug-of-war over federal enforcement capacity. A Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General report, cited by KJZZ, found that HSI's fentanyl investigations dropped 24 percent between fiscal years 2024 and 2025 as more ICE personnel shifted to immigration work.
A Bright Spot Against a National Backdrop
Nationally, CBP officers seized 773 pounds of fentanyl across all U.S. borders in August 2026 alone, according to USAFacts.
This isn't the first major interdiction to come out of San Ysidro in recent weeks. Just days earlier, officers there pulled 181 pounds of cocaine from a hidden compartment, and the port has also seen a Global Entry traveler caught with 63 pounds of methamphetamine. The seizures add to a run of recent drug busts at the port.
