U.S. Border Agents Seize Cache of Meth Ingredient

Federal immigration agents on patrol near the U.S.-Mexico border in San Diego early Friday discovered a large cache of the principal ingredient used in the manufacture of crystal methamphetamine.

The U.S. Border Patrol agents, while making routine rounds, seized 110 pounds of ephedrine, a precursor for methamphetamine production. Officers made the seizure at about 1 a.m. in a rugged stretch of the Otay Mesa area of San Diego, a zone often frequented by illegal border-crossers.

Authorities said the seizure, the second such find within four months, indicates that U.S. producers may be opting to buy the substance south of the border and smuggle it into the United States in an effort to avoid increasingly stringent U.S. reporting requirements.

Those seeking to purchase ephedrine in the United States are required to register the substance’s purchase, creating a paper trail for regulators.

“We have noticed in recent months an increasing trend toward smuggling ephedrine into the United States,” said Steve Trent, resident agent in charge for the U.S. Customs Service at the San Ysidro Point of Entry.

Agents discovered the material--valued at $50,000--inside four sporting bags left at the border area, said Ted Swofford, a Border Patrol spokesman in San Diego.

The bags were dropped by a group of suspected undocumented immigrants, who fled into a nearby canyon and could not be identified, Swofford said. The 110 pounds of ephedrine are enough to produce $2 million worth of street-purity methamphetamine, Swofford said.

On April 13, Swofford said, border agents in San Diego seized 103 pounds of ephedrine in similar fashion. Smugglers have also attempted to move the substance through the port of entry at San Ysidro, said Bobby Sheppard, agent in charge for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration at San Ysidro.

U.S. Border Patrol agents, who are primarily charged with deterring illegal immigration, are increasingly seizing caches of illicit drugs, including cocaine and marijuana. In April, border agents in Arizona seized 3,192 pounds of cocaine as the substance was being loaded onto a trailer--the largest-ever cocaine bust by U.S. immigration authorities.

Methamphetamine, known as a blue-collar drug, is a strong and addictive stimulant that is usually ingested, snorted or injected, although a smokable form is also available. The San Diego area long held the dubious distinction of being the nation’s “meth capital,” although other Southern California communities are now said to have overtaken San Diego in use of the substance.

Between October 1986 and September 1989 authorities seized more than 400 San Diego-area laboratories where methamphetamine was being produced.