Tijuana state security forces arrested a 26-year-old San Diego resident on March 28 after finding 644 cannabis vape pens hidden inside his vehicle at a shopping center in the Otay Centenario neighborhood.
Officers from the Fuerza Estatal de Seguridad Ciudadana (FESC), Baja California’s state police, responded to a citizen tip directing them to a black Chevrolet Equinox parked in the shopping center lot. When they inspected the SUV, they discovered 91 boxes packed into the engine compartment, each containing multiple vape pens filled with cannabis extract.
Suspect Turned Over to Federal Prosecutors
The suspect, identified as Edwin Manuel, was detained at the scene. Authorities transferred him to the Fiscalía General de la República (FGR), Mexico’s federal prosecutor’s office, which handles drug trafficking cases.
The location of the arrest, Otay Centenario, sits roughly three miles east of the Otay Mesa port of entry, one of the busiest commercial border crossings between Tijuana and San Diego. The proximity to the border and the volume of product suggest the vape pens were likely intended for cross-border distribution, though authorities have not publicly confirmed the intended destination.
Cannabis Vapes Treated as Drug Trafficking in Mexico
Under Mexican federal law, vape cartridges containing cannabis extract are classified as drug trafficking contraband. This applies regardless of whether cannabis is legal in the state where a traveler resides. California legalized recreational cannabis in 2016, but carrying any quantity of cannabis products into Mexico remains a federal crime south of the border.
The penalties are steep. Mexican law treats concentrated cannabis products differently from dried marijuana, and possession of the quantities found in this case would fall squarely into trafficking territory rather than personal use.
The bust is one of several recent seizures in which Tijuana authorities have relied on anonymous citizen tips to intercept contraband. The FESC maintains a tip line and has credited public cooperation with a number of arrests in recent months.
This story was first reported by Punto Norte on March 28.