A U.S. Border Patrol K9 named Loki sniffed out nearly $1 million worth of liquid methamphetamine hidden inside a big rig's fuel tank during a traffic stop on the 15 Freeway near Murrieta last week. Agents pulled over a northbound truck traveling without a trailer in Riverside County on September 29, and what they found inside its fuel tank turned into one of the region's more striking recent drug seizures.
The liquid meth weighed 962 pounds and measured about 115 gallons, according to NBC Los Angeles. The driver, identified as a Mexican national, was taken into custody and later turned over to Homeland Security Investigations, while the truck itself was seized as part of the ongoing investigation. The exact cause that prompted agents to pull the truck over was not immediately clear, the outlet reported.
Hazardous materials specialists safely removed the liquid from the fuel tank, a process also seen in a similar extraction during a Yuma traffic stop, as Hoodline has previously reported.
A Familiar Corridor for Smugglers
The stretch of I-15 near Murrieta falls under the watch of the Border Patrol's Newton-Azrak Station, which oversees a 3,800-square-mile stretch of Riverside County that federal authorities have identified as a major inland route used by transnational criminal organizations to push narcotics north from the border, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. This is not the first time agents from that station have intercepted liquid meth moving through the corridor.
In April 2025, Newton-Azrak agents stopped a northbound tractor-trailer on I-215 near Murrieta and seized 761 pounds of liquid methamphetamine concealed in modified diesel fuel tanks — at the time, the San Diego Sector's largest single meth bust in two years, per the Times of San Diego. The tactic also shows up at the border itself: in March 2026, federal agents at the Otay Mesa commercial crossing found 944 pounds of liquid meth in 29 buckets inside a semi-truck's diesel tank, NBC 7 San Diego reported.
What 115 Gallons Means on the Street
Liquid methamphetamine is harder to detect than finished product, and may be consumed orally or injected.
The seizure involved 115 gallons of liquid methamphetamine. CBP and Border Patrol seized more than 174,000 pounds of methamphetamine nationwide during fiscal year 2024, according to figures reported by BroBible.
Agent Praises K9 Units and Multi-Agency Work
Justin M. De La Torre, chief patrol agent for the Border Patrol's San Diego Sector, said the seizure highlighted the lengths transnational criminal organizations will go to smuggle hard narcotics into American communities. “The vigilance of our agents, the reliability of our K-9 units, and our strong multi-agency partnerships are vital to dismantling these illicit smuggling operations and keeping deadly drugs off our streets,” De La Torre said, according to NBC Los Angeles.
Loki, the K9 credited with the find, is named after the trickster god of Norse mythology known for his cunning and intellect. The dog's discovery adds to a growing list of fuel-tank seizures across Southern California this year, including a San Ysidro bus found carrying 187.92 pounds of cocaine in its cargo hold and a checkpoint stop on I-8 near Campo that netted 198 pounds of meth, both of which Hoodline has covered in recent weeks.
Potential Federal Charges Ahead
Under 21 U.S.C. § 841, possessing with intent to distribute 500 grams or more of a mixture containing methamphetamine carries a mandatory minimum of 10 years in federal prison, with a maximum of life imprisonment and fines that may not exceed the greater of the amount authorized under Title 18 or $10 million for an individual (or $50 million for a non-individual), according to GovInfo. The statute sets the 500-gram threshold for that possession-with-intent-to-distribute offense. It remains to be seen what specific charges, if any, the driver may face.
