Customs and Border Protection officers at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry say they discovered 92.72 pounds of heroin concealed inside a vehicle's gas tank, a discovery announced Friday by the agency's top border official in San Diego. A similar gas-tank concealment was reported at Otay Mesa in 2020.
The find was announced in a post from Sidney Aki, who is identified as director of field operations for the San Diego Field Office, writing “Fueled by deception. Exposed by CBP,” and describing how officers at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry
discovered the drugs concealed inside the tank. No accompanying CBP news release detailing the seizure date, the vehicle involved, or any arrest has been made available alongside the social media post, leaving several basic details of the case unconfirmed for now.
A Familiar Smuggling Method at the Border
Hiding narcotics inside a vehicle's gas tank is not a new tactic at Otay Mesa. Back in July 2020, federal officers at the same port of entry found roughly 140 pounds of liquid methamphetamine and two pounds of heroin stashed inside a van's gas tank and spare tire, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. That earlier bust involved 131 separate bundles hidden in the vehicle, with the drugs valued at about $175,000.
A similar method turned up more recently at the nearby San Ysidro Port of Entry, where officers said they found signs of tampering in a vehicle's gas tank that concealed a nonfactory compartment. As reported by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, that search turned up 110 packages containing 262.21 pounds of cocaine. Together, the cases point to gas tanks remaining a go-to hiding spot for smugglers trying to slip narcotics past San Diego-area checkpoints.
Part of a Steady Flow of Seizures
The Otay Mesa find comes amid a string of large-scale narcotics seizures reported across the San Diego Field Office's ports. The agency said it seized more than $67 million worth of narcotics in July 2026 alone, a haul that included 36.69 pounds of heroin along with hundreds of pounds of fentanyl, cocaine and methamphetamine, according to a CBP release. A separate CBP recap for October through December 2025 put the quarter's total at nearly 33,000 pounds of narcotics worth $111 million seized at San Diego ports.
CBP has also highlighted smaller but notable busts in the past, including a January 2024 weekend in which officers at the San Diego Field Office seized $2.4 million worth of narcotics, plus a weapon and currency, despite severe weather. The agency's own reporting does not establish a clear year-over-year trend specifically for heroin seizures at Otay Mesa, but the volume of recent announcements underscores how frequently inspectors there are finding concealed drug loads.
As of now, CBP has not released the seizure date, a description of the vehicle, the number of packages recovered, or any information about a suspect or possible charges tied to the 92.72-pound heroin find. Hoodline will update this story if the agency issues a formal release with additional details.
