Man Held, 44 Pounds of Heroin Seized at Border Station

A Northern California man has been arrested trying to smuggle 44 pounds of black tar heroin with a street value of $20 million into the United States from Mexico, U.S. Customs officials announced Thursday.

Officials said the seizure at the San Ysidro port of entry is the largest heroin seizure ever made at a California border station. The previous record was 37 pounds seized at Otay Mesa in December.

George J. Weise, commissioner of U.S. Customs, said the 44 pounds seized from a car driven by Jacinto Santacruz-Plancarte, 48, of San Jose, would break down into 4 million doses. The bust was initiated when a drug-sniffing dog smelled something in the fenders of a 1982 Volvo driven by Santacruz-Plancarte on Sunday night, officials said.

Customs inspectors and California National Guard troops took the fenders apart and found 24 packages of heroin taped inside. The driver was arrested and taken to the Metropolitan Correctional Center in San Diego on a charge that carries a mandatory 10-year prison sentence.

Edward Logan, special agent in charge of the San Diego Customs office of investigation, said a 44-pound load shows that “a major criminal organization” is involved in heroin smuggling.

In the last eight months, 139 pounds of heroin have been seized at California border stations, compared with 41 pounds in the previous 12 months, officials aid.