SALTON CITY: El Centro Sector Border Patrol agents assigned to the Indio Station found a backpack containing several pounds of heroin on a commercial bus at the Highway 86 checkpoint.
The incident occurred at approximately 9:15p.m., after agents referred the bus to secondary inspection to conduct an immigration check.
Agents noticed a backpack placed in the overhead storage area sitting away from all the passengers. Agents asked the passengers several times for the owner to claim the backpack. No one came forward.
Agents searched the backpack and discovered two bundles wrapped in clear plastic and recognized it as potential narcotics. A Border Patrol Canine Detection team conducted a sniff search on the backpack that produced a positive alert. Agents confiscated the backpack.
The substance inside the bundles tested positive for heroin. The heroin had a total weight of 4.8 pounds with an estimated street value of more than $57,600.
The narcotics were turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration for further investigation.No arrests were made as agents were unable to identify the owner of the backpack. Last fiscal year El Centro Sector seized more than 186 pounds of heroin.
