Another Mom Busted For Fentanyl Smuggling As Kids Watch In RivCo: USBP

INDIO, CA — Another woman toting her underage kids was arrested on Interstate 10 on suspicion of transporting fentanyl, the U.S. Border Patrol reported Wednesday.

She was the second mother arrested this month in the Coachella Valley on suspicion of hauling fentanyl on a stretch of the freeway in Indio.

The latest arrest occurred shortly after 9:30 a.m. May 15 after agents in a marked USBP vehicle were passed by a white SUV near Golf Center Parkway, according to the USBP.

The SUV driver then hit the brakes, prompting agents to check the license plate's records.

They ended up pulling the driver over to question her. With her two underage children in the vehicle with her, she told agents everyone was a U.S. citizen. A records check, however, showed she was an undocumented immigrant, while her children were both U.S. citizens, according to the USBP.

"The driver’s responses were inconsistent, therefore raising the agents’ suspicions," the USBP reported.

A USBP K-9 was used to search the SUV, and the dog alerted agents to a sealed box inside.

Agents opened the package and found what appeared to be three freshly painted black shelves. They tore open the items and found packages of blue pills marked M-30. The pills were tested and determined to be counterfeit oxycodone that contained fentanyl, according to the USBP.

The haul's total weight was 29 pounds, "enough to wipe out a city of 6.8 million people, or the whole population of Indiana," the USBP said.

"This particular undocumented smuggler used two children in the smuggling scheme, which is horrifying," said Chief Patrol Agent Gregory Bovino of the El Centro Sector. "No regard for human life here folks, only greed."

The woman was arrested and, along with the narcotics and vehicle, turned over to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Office Special Investigations Bureau. The two children were turned over to their father, the USBP said.

Just a day earlier, a woman driving her teen son on Interstate 10 in Indio was also found to be transporting more than just her child.

She was concealing "tens of thousands" of fentanyl pills in her vehicle, the USBP said.

The bust occurred just before 11 a.m. May 14 after agents in a marked USBP vehicle began tailing a "suspicious" blue sedan on the freeway, according to the agency.

The agents pulled the car over near the westbound off-ramp to Golf Center Parkway and discovered the mother and son.

A K-9 was used to sniff the car's exterior.

"An initial search of the vehicle resulted in the discovery of a single blue pill," the USBP reported. "The pill possessed characteristics similar to those of illicit fentanyl pills."

After the discovery, the sedan was transported to a nearby Border Patrol station for further inspection. It was there that agents spotted "suspicious tool markings" on the bolts holding the vehicle’s seats in place, the USBP reported.

The seats were removed, and "several large bags" containing "tens of thousands of blue pills" were discovered in a non-factory compartment, according to the agency. The total weight of the narcotics was 93.3 pounds.

Pill samples tested positive for the presence of fentanyl, the USBP said.

The woman, a U.S. citizen, was arrested on suspicion of smuggling narcotics and child endangerment. The woman, the vehicle and the narcotics were turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration for further investigation. Her son was released to "an appropriate party," according to the USBP.

Officials did not release the identities of the women in each instance or indicate whether the two cases were connected.

The USBP has been conducting what it calls Operation Apollo, a counter-fentanyl effort that began in October in Southern California and expanded to Arizona last month. The operation
focuses on "intelligence collection and partnerships" to target fentanyl smuggling into the United States, according to the agency.

Related: Mother Found With 'Tens Of Thousands' Of Hidden Fentanyl Pills: USBP