Federal and local authorities in San Diego arrested three men in the U.S. illegally – two from Mexico and one from El Salvador – after they allegedly transported nearly 8,000 pounds of methamphetamine worth more than $5 million earlier this week.

The incident took place on Monday around 7 p.m. during a joint narcotics investigation in the South Bay region, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office announced Thursday evening.

SDCSO detectives and U.S. Border Patrol agents observed three vehicles they believed were being loaded with bundles of drugs. A federal complaint filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of California said the vehicles were being loaded in a parking lot on Otay Mesa Road.

Federal and local authorities involved in the seizure said there were 61 total bundles of methamphetamine in the three vehicles.  (San Diego County Sheriff’s Office)

When authorities searched their vehicles, they found a total of 61 bundles of methamphetamine, weighing more than 7,700 pounds and valued at around $5.5 million.

“It was one of the biggest seizures of methamphetamine in 2025 in the Southern District of California, and the most significant so far by the new Homeland Security Task Force San Diego, which was recently established by the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security at the request of President Trump,” the DOJ said.

Methamphetamine was the drug detected inside the bundles, according to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office. (San Diego County Sheriff’s Office)

All three men were booked into the San Diego Central Jail and face charges related to conspiracy, transportation and possession of controlled substances for sales.