San Diego

Woman Driving Kids Busted With $460K Worth of Cocaine in Orange County

A woman, who had two children in the car with her, was busted smuggling hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cocaine in Orange County, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Border patrol agents stopped the woman driving with a 2-year-old girl and 11-year-old boy on the northbound 5 Freeway at Cristianitos Road in San Clemente Monday.

"It is very sad to see innocent children entangled in this shameful attempt to smuggle illicit narcotics," agent Thomas Blanks said in a statement.

During the traffic stop, the K-9 alerted agents, and they began searching inside the 2001 Honda Accord.

They found 14 bundles of cocaine, even finding a stash under the front seat where the 11-year-old boy was sitting.

In the back seat, agents found eight bundles of cocaine where the 2-year-old sat.

Three more packages were found inside the driver’s seat, bringing the grand total to nearly 40 pounds of cocaine. The bundles were estimated to have a street value of $459,000, U.S. Customs said.

The 25-year-old woman was arrested and the children were taken into custody by San Diego County Child Welfare Services.

Up until July of 2016, San Diego agents have gathered 1,069 pounds of cocaine from busts, the agency reported.

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