U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents in Pine Valley, California, announced Friday the seizure of 112 pounds of blue fentanyl pills worth around $1,536,000.

The Pine Valley border station is near the U.S.-Mexico border near San Diego. On May 18, agents stopped a 2003 SUV of unspecified make and model. When a drug dog was alerted to something in the vehicle, the car and its driver, a U.S. citizen, were taken to another checkpoint.

At the checkpoint, the agents found the narcotics hidden inside the roof of the car in nine plastic-wrapped packages. The blue pills within were found to be fentanyl.

The driver, whose identity was not disclosed by CBP, was handed over to the custody of the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department. The drugs, meanwhile, were turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Drug smuggling is a persistent problem at the U.S.-Mexico border. In the first four months of 2023, agents in the San Diego border patrol sector have seized drugs worth over $266.5 million

Of that amount, nearly half has been fentanyl — the sector has brought in 4,403 pounds of the stuff, worth over $119.8 million on the street.

• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.