Methamphetamine Watermelons: Customs agents near San Diego, California, seize $5 million worth of meth disguised as watermelons from Mexico

SAN DIEGO — U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents in Southern California discovered that a supposed shipment of watermelons was not what it seemed after discovering more than $5 million worth of methamphetamine hidden inside, the agency said.

A 29-year-old man driving a commercial tractor-trailer attempted to enter the United States from Mexico with a shipment containing watermelons, CBP said in a news release Tuesday.

Officers at the agency's Otay Mesa Mall near San Diego referred the driver, his vehicle and its cargo for further examination, the statement said.

The shipment, which contained what were believed to be watermelons, was unloaded and agents discovered 1,220 packets of methamphetamine wrapped in paper and disguised as fruit, the agency said.

The contents weighed nearly 4,600 pounds.

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The man was turned over to Homeland Security Investigations custody, and CBP agents seized the drugs and the tractor-trailer, the statement said.

This operation is the result of Operation Apollo, an operation in Southern California and Arizona that targets the smuggling of fentanyl into the United States, CBP said.

Earlier this month, CBP officers in Otay Mesa intercepted 629 pounds of methamphetamine with an estimated street value of $755,000 that was hidden in a shipment of celery, the agency said.

The agency has seized nearly 146,000 pounds of methamphetamine in 2024 so far, already surpassing the total of 140,000 pounds of the drug seized last year, according to federal data.

Methamphetamine and other synthetic stimulants were responsible for about 30% of the nearly 108,000 drug-related deaths in 2022, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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