Suspicious Tanker Cars to Be Searched

Investigation: Customs officials will inspect the train after workers finish emptying propane gas fumes. Inspectors suspect they hold drugs or contraband.

Federal investigators today plan to search two rail cars suspected of carrying drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border after workers finish emptying gas fumes from the propane tanker cars at a San Bernardino County rail yard, authorities said Monday.

A spokesman for Southern Pacific Railroad said U.S. Customs inspectors would begin the search at 10 a.m. Officials said they were still bleeding fumes from the tanker cars Monday.

There was no further indication whether the 20,000-gallon tanker cars, used for hauling liquid propane fuel to Mexico, contain drugs or other illicit goods. Officials are not aware of any previous incident of trains being used by smugglers at the California border.

The cars were part of a Southern Pacific Railroad freight train stopped by customs inspectors last week. Inspectors at the Calexico border crossing determined Thursday that the cars were suspiciously overweight, officials said. But for reasons that remain unclear, the train got as far as the Colton area.

The process of purging the tankers was delayed by the holiday, said Southern Pacific spokesman Mike Furteney. He said the train’s destination was a town near Amarillo, Tex., and that the owner of the rail cars and the fuel provider are U.S. companies.