California Mom arrested after 5 pounds of heroin found hidden in a diaper bag

A 38-year-old woman who was driving with her 5-year-old daughter was arrested on Tuesday, Sept. 19, after U.S. Border Patrol agents said they found 5.4 pounds of heroin concealed in a diaper bag in her pickup during a traffic stop near Temecula.

The unidentified woman was driving a Ford pickup north on the 15 Freeway near an immigration checkpoint when agents pulled her over. Agents searched the truck and found four cellophane-wrapped bundles in the bag, a news release said.

“Drug trafficking organizations will go to great lengths to smuggle their dangerous cargo through the United States, even when it means endangering the lives of young children,” Chief Patrol Agent Patricia D. McGurk-Daniel said in a written statement.

A check of records revealed that the woman had a conviction for narcotics smuggling, the release said.

The heroin had an estimated street value of $69,120, according to the agency.

The woman and narcotics were turned over to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department for investigation.

The 5-year-old girl wound up in the custody of “an appropriate party,” the Border Patrol said. The pickup was seized.