Cocaine Seized at Calexico Port of Entry

Federal law enforcement officials have reported the seizure of over half a ton of cocaine from a commercial truck and its flatbed trailer at the Calexico Port of Entry in California. The announcement was made by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California.

On Wednesday, prosecutors shared that the cocaine, valued at more than $20 million, was concealed in the floorboards of the truck and trailer, which were loaded with 269 bundles of rebar. This incident represents the second-largest cocaine seizure in this area this year.

The government’s motion to detain the driver, identified as Jose Manuel Lopez Lopez, states that the amount of cocaine confiscated is “a tremendous amount of drugs, even by the standards of this district.”

Lopez, aged 44, has been charged with importing cocaine and potentially faces a prison sentence ranging from 10 years to life if convicted. He pleaded not guilty in federal court on Tuesday, and his detention hearing is set for Monday.

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers, along with agents from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), uncovered the drugs after conducting an X-ray of the trailer, prompted by alerts from a drug dog. They identified irregularities in the floorboards.

“After unloading the rebar, officers unscrewed the planks from the wooden floor of the trailer and discovered they were stuffed with drugs,” the office reported.

In total, over 350 packages of cocaine weighing more than 1,000 pounds were extracted from the trailer.

This seizure follows the largest one of 2026, related to a cross-border tunnel that was discovered in May, which led to the confiscation of over a ton of cocaine valued at around $45 million, according to officials.