Adriana Morfin-Paniagua, Oxycodone Importation, California 2017

Defendant Arrested with $1.4M Oxycodone Seizure

San Diego, CA – In a major blow to the Southwest Border’s opioid epidemic, U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials seized approximately $1.4 million worth of oxycodone at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry, making it the largest oxycodone seizure in at least five years. The drugs were found in a hidden compartment of a 1999 Honda Accord driven by Adriana Morfin-Paniagua, a 22-year-old U.S. citizen living in Mexico.

According to a federal complaint, Morfin-Paniagua entered the United States on March 8, 2017, as the sole occupant of the Honda Accord. Following a secondary inspection, officials discovered 47,340 oxycodone tablets hidden inside a non-factory compartment. The pills tested positive as oxycodone in the field, with an illegal street value of $30 to $40 per tablet. At $30 each, the street value of the seized pills is $1,420,200.00.

‘This is one of the biggest seizures of oxycodone at a San Diego port of entry,’ said Acting U.S. Attorney Alana Robinson. ‘Every pill we seize is one that we keep out of the mouths of abusers who are on a path to destruction.’

Morfin-Paniagua was subsequently charged with a violation of Title 21, United States Code, 952 and 960, importation of a controlled substance, and booked into the Metropolitan Correctional Center. Her first appearance was made before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jan Adler.

The investigation was conducted by Homeland Security Investigations and United States Customs and Border Protection.

The case, 17MJ0710, is pending.

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