San Diego authorities arrest 3 noncitizens allegedly involved in transporting more than $5M worth of meth

Federal and local officers in San Diego arrested three men in the U S illegally two from Mexico and one from El Salvador after they allegedly transported nearly pounds of methamphetamine worth more than million earlier this week The situation took place on Monday around p m during a joint narcotics research in the South Bay region the San Diego County Sheriff's Office publicized Thursday evening SDCSO detectives and U S Demarcation Patrol agents observed three vehicles they assumed were being loaded with bundles of drugs A federal complaint filed by the U S Attorney's Office of the Southern District of California revealed the vehicles were being loaded in a parking lot on Otay Mesa Road CBP OFFICERS SEIZE OVER M OF ALLEGED METHAMPHETAMINE AT SOUTHERN LIMIT Two of those vehicles were driven toward a motel in San Ysidro while the third motorcycle went to a motel in Chula Vista the sheriff's office revealed All three drivers were ultimately arrested They were identified by the Justice Department as -year-old Erick Omar Arriola of El Salvador and Mexican nationals Eugenio Lizama and Baltazar Rodriguez Reyes Arriola is a felon convicted of driving under the influence battery of a spouse and false imprisonment the DOJ declared 'ZOMBIE DRUG' SMUGGLED ACROSS SOUTHERN PERIMETER A GROWING THREAT TO AMERICANS PHYSICIAN WARNS When personnel searched their vehicles they identified a total of bundles of methamphetamine weighing more than pounds and valued at around million It was one of the biggest seizures of methamphetamine in in the Southern District of California and the largest part key so far by the new Homeland Safeguard Task Force San Diego which was just now established by the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Safety at the request of President Trump the DOJ commented All three men were booked into the San Diego Central Jail and face charges related to conspiracy transportation and possession of controlled substances for sales