Federal agents apprehended two men on August 7 after discovering $2.5 million in cash in vacuum-sealed bags hidden inside their gas tanks near the San Ysidro Port of Entry.
According to a federal search warrant affidavit obtained by CBS 8, agents from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) stopped two vehicles heading from Ontario, California, south to the border.
Agents in Ontario, California, were monitoring a 2015 Chevy Suburban driven by Guillermo Tafolla and a 2006 Dodge Ram driven by Max Mejia-Moreno.
Tafolla and Mejia-Moreno left their Ontario house around 7:00 p.m. in their individual vehicles and drove south toward the border.
At 9:30 p.m., officials directed Tafolla’s Chevy Suburban to the southbound border checkpoint for secondary inspection. Once there, a Canine Enforcement Team alerted agents to irregularities in the gas tank. Agents then recovered $960,170 in cash hidden within vacuum-sealed bundles.
At the same moment, a second pair of agents stopped Mejia-Moreno’s 2006 Dodge Ram outside a petrol station near the border. A Canine Enforcement team found something in the Ram’s gas tank. Agents then found $1,589,840 stashed inside the gas tank.
Both drivers were arrested and charged with conspiracy to smuggle cash in violation of Title 18, U.S.C. §371 and Title 31, U.S.C. §5332(a)(1).
According to traffic data and surveillance, Tafolla and Mejia-Moreno crossed the border in a similar method at least six times in the last year, indicating a continuous currency trafficking operation.
Agents seized the duo’s cell phones as part of the investigation, expecting to discover evidence concerning the planning and coordination of large cash shipments, as well as any conversations with co-conspirators.
The seizure on August 7 was one of the largest in recent months at the San Ysidro Port of Entry.
Tafolla and Mejia-Moreno were released after paying $20,000 bail.
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