81-year-old woman caught with $870K in heroin at US-Mexico border

SAN DIEGO — Authorities seized 92 pounds (42 kilograms) of heroin valued at more than $870,000 from an 81-year-old woman attempting to smuggle the drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border.

KABC-TV reports a U.S. Customs and Border Protection detector dog Wednesday at the Tecate border crossing alerted officers to the driver-side rocker panel of the 2011 Chrysler 200 the woman, an American citizen, was driving.

Officers discovered 34 wrapped packages of heroin from the vehicle’s rocker panels.

The driver was arrested and turned over to Homeland Security Investigations agents.

Authorities seized the vehicle.

San Diego Customs and Border Protection Director of Field Operations Pete Flores says drug “cartels will try and manipulate anyone to smuggle their narcotics through the ports of entry.”