Mexican national carrying 50,000 fentanyl pills in child’s toy arrested in Florida

A Mexican national has been arrested after law enforcement found more than 50,000 fentanyl pills hidden inside a child’s toy in Florida, according to federal prosecutors. Officials said the suspect had been removed from the United States multiple times before this incident.

Guillermo Higuera German, 37, made his initial appearance on Monday in a federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Prosecutors said officers approached his vehicle during a consensual encounter, and a certified narcotics K-9 alerted to the presence of drugs.

A search of the vehicle led officers to several boxes and a Sesame Street-style school bus toy that contained tens of thousands of fentanyl pills weighing about five kilograms, or roughly 11 pounds.

According to a complaint affidavit, investigators also learned that Higuera German was unlawfully present in the country and had been deported five times. Prosecutors said he is again subject to removal.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection has reported similar seizures in which drugs were hidden in common products and commercial loads.

Earlier this month, Border Patrol agents near Amado, Arizona, found more than 20 pounds of methamphetamine hidden inside packages of frozen meat. The driver, a 32-year-old Mexican national, was arrested after an X-ray scan revealed anomalies in the shipment.

At the Laredo Port of Entry in Texas, CBP officers recently seized two major methamphetamine shipments hidden in commercial cargo. On Nov. 5, officers discovered nearly 1,800 pounds of meth concealed inside plaster vases being transported on a tractor trailer. The narcotics carried an estimated street value of more than $16 million, according to CBP.

In a separate incident in September, officers found more than 360 pounds of methamphetamine concealed in a shipment of cement with a street value exceeding $3 million.

Officials in those cases said smugglers increasingly attempt to hide drugs in commercial goods or household products, but enhanced screening, nonintrusive inspections, and canine teams continue to uncover the shipments before they reach U.S. communities.