see also: in October 2003:   Port of Otay Mesa Cargo Facility to Test Expanded Hours   Border Patrol Makes Two Significant Drug Seizures in New Mexico and Texas   CBP Border Patrol Aid Local Law Enforcement Agencies With San Diego Wildfires   U.S. Customs and Border Protection Appoints Director For the Office of Trade Relations   4th Annual Trade Symposium to be Held November 20 & 21   U.S. Customs and Border Protection to Open Vacancy for Officer Positions Nationwide ...more on cbp.gov:   Press Officers   CBP News Releases

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SAN DIEGO - U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at the Otay Mesa border station seized 3,149 pounds of marijuana from an empty tractor-trailer rig that entered the port late Tuesday afternoon at about 4:30 p.m..

CBP officers found 353 wrapped packages of the narcotic valued at $1.4 million hidden within a secret wall compartment inside the 53-foot trailer of the California-plated conveyance, officials said.

Officers became suspicious after a check of the trailer's inside dimensions with a laser range finder indicated a discrepancy in the length of the empty trailer. An intensive examination of the trailer with a gamma-ray non-invasive inspection system confirmed a false front wall. Additionally, a drug-sniffing dog used to screen the trailer alerted to the front wall of the trailer, officials said.

The driver, 34-year old Roberto Gutierrez-Alvarez of Tijuana, was arrested by special agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and subsequently transported to the Metropolitan Correctional Center for processing.

Officers at the cargo facility seized almost 100,000 pounds of marijuana during fiscal year 2003, which ended September 30, a 71 percent increase over the previous fiscal year.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is a new agency within the Department of Homeland Security that unifies U.S. Customs, Immigration and Agriculture inspectors and the Border Patrol.