The woman, identified only as a U.S. citizen, was taken into custody after Border Patrol agents stopped a 2015 Nissan Sentra traveling on Interstate 15 on June 12 in Murrieta. The car was being driven by a 26-year-old man, who was also identified as a U.S. citizen, and had five passengers inside. Three of the passengers were children, officials said.
Agents searched the car after a Border Patrol K-9 alerted them to the possible presence of drugs in the vehicle. They found 23 packages containing 32.1 pounds of methamphetamine, 2.31 pounds of cocaine and 4.55 pounds of heroin in a car seat that a child had been sitting in, according to CBP.
Authorities estimated the narcotics had a combined street value of around $101,700.
Agents determined that the 26-year-old woman who had been a passenger in the car had hidden the drugs, officials said. She was arrested and turned over to the Riverside County Sheriff's Office.
Authorities released the three children into the custody of the other adult passenger in the car, who was identified by CBP as their 32-year-old aunt.
Officials said that, since Oct. 1, 2018, the San Diego sector of the U.S. Border Patrol has seized more than 990 pounds of cocaine, 2,500 pounds of meth and over 195 pounds of heroin. Authorities estimate the seized drugs have a combined street value topping $18 million.
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