CBP officers seize 187 pounds of cocaine in a commercial passenger bus

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers discovered almost 200 pounds of cocaine hidden inside a commercial passenger bus last week, according to a release Thursday.

Around 8:20 p.m. last Friday, CBP officers assigned to the San Ysidro Port of Entry stopped a 51-year-old man driving an empty commercial passenger bus as he was applying for admission into the U.S. from Mexico.

After a secondary inspection, a scan of the bus revealed irregularities in the rear cargo area of the bus, the release stated.

According to CBP, officers uncovered a total of 70 packages from inside a compartment in the side walls of the bus, and the contents were later confirmed to be cocaine weighing a total of nearly 188 pounds.

The man was turned over to Homeland Security Investigations while the narcotics and commercial passenger bus were seized by CBP officers.

The seizure was the result of Operation Apollo, a collaboration between CBP and federal, state, local, tribal and territorial partners to combat the smuggling of fentanyl into the U.S.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX 5 San Diego & KUSI News.