Trucking News · California · November 9, 2026

Truckers: CBP Finds Liquid Meth in Semi Fuel Tank at Calexico

Illustration of a silver semi at a commercial border inspection lane as an officer checks the fuel tank with a flashlight — Illustration for this story. Not a photo of a specific location.

Image caption: Illustration: AI-generated illustration, not a photo of the people, vehicles or places in this story. It shows a generic semi at a border inspection lane.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection says officers at the Calexico Port of Entry commercial facility seized more than 886 pounds of liquid methamphetamine on Oct. 22. CBP announced the seizure Nov. 5. The agency described an empty 2016 Freightliner Cascadia tractor-trailer whose U.S. citizen driver was referred to secondary inspection.

Officers observed discoloration in the fuel tank and tested a sample that was positive for methamphetamine, CBP said. They removed 22 five-gallon buckets of the liquid from the tank. San Diego Director of Field Operations Sidney K. Aki credited intelligence teams and frontline officers with stopping the load before it reached communities.

What the release does not say

CBP's release does not state whether the driver was arrested or charged, and it does not name the driver. The trailer is described as empty of freight; the hiding place named is the fuel tank.

Local12 coverage repeated the CBP figures and noted that CBP did not say whether the driver was arrested or faces charges. The seizure took place Oct. 22; the public release came Nov. 5.

Honest truckers and longer looks

Seizures like this are one reason commercial crossings draw close secondary inspections. For truckers who cross regularly, the practical takeaway is simple: an empty trailer does not mean a light inspection, and something unusual about the fuel system can lead to a closer look even when the freight box is empty.