Southern California authorities announced a major drug seizure as part of an ongoing crackdown on US-Mexico border-related crime. The highlight was the arrest of a truck driver attempting to smuggle over 200 pounds of methamphetamine through the Otay Mesa port of entry.
The Southern District of California, covering San Diego and Imperial counties, is ranked as the fourth most active federal judicial district in the country for prosecutions, handling the flow of people and goods through massive ports like San Ysidro, the world’s busiest land border crossing.
According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California, Mexican national Marco Antonio Murillo-Najera was arrested on January 20 at the Otay Mesa cargo facility. During inspection, officers discovered two packages containing approximately 232 pounds of methamphetamine concealed within the cabin of the Peterbilt truck he was operating.
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Just one day later, at the same Otay Mesa port of entry, authorities apprehended Genaro Cortez-Beltrán roughly two miles north of the crossing. Records indicate Cortez-Beltrán had been previously deported from the U.S. in September 2025.
On January 17, the U.S. Coast Guard intercepted a vessel off the San Diego coast, arresting its captain, Mexican citizen Eduardo Luis Aguilar Atilano. He faces charges of attempted human trafficking for profit after authorities found nine undocumented migrants aboard his boat.
In a separate coordinated operation, five other Mexican nationals (Rocío Chávez Granados, Arnulfo Contreras Hernández, Rubén Esquivel Núñez, Jacinto Torres-Cantú, and Briner Yulipsi Vela Díaz) were arrested and charged with attempted illegal re-entry after having been deported.
Federal prosecutors credited the arrests to a broad coalition of law enforcement agencies. The cases involved Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ICE ERO), Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the U.S. Border Patrol, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS), and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), supported by state and local police.
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