{
  "id": 3791460,
  "title": "700 pounds of meth hidden in cucumber load leads to 15-year prison sentences",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/27/700-pounds-of-meth-hidden-in-cucumber-load-leads-to-15-year-prison",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-08-27T17:24:54.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "FreightWaves",
    "slug": "freightwaves",
    "url": "https://www.freightwaves.com/news/700-pounds-of-meth-hidden-in-cucumber-load-leads-to-15-year-prison-sentences"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Two men will serve 15 years in federal prison after agents discovered over 700 pounds of methamphetamine hidden inside a tractor-trailer shipment of cucumbers outside a Gainesville, Georgia warehouse on June 30, 2025. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agents were monitoring the trailer after receiving information about a large drug load. They arrested Andres Jasso Jr., 39, and Rufino Pineda-Perez, 61, near the rig before finding thousands of wrapped packages inside. U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg called the concealment of the methamphetamine \"an astonishing amount of deadly methamphetamine.\" Jasso and Pineda-Perez were each sentenced to 15 years in prison, with an additional 10 years of supervised release after their incarceration. Both men pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess methamphetamine with intent to distribute on March 11, 2025. Pineda-Perez, a Mexican citizen without legal status in the United States, had a prior deportation history after being convicted in 2001 for transporting marijuana. The investigation was conducted jointly by the DEA, Georgia State Patrol, Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).",
  "summary": "Two men received 15-year federal prison sentences after investigators uncovered more than 700 pounds of methamphetamine concealed among cucumber boxes. The June 2025 investigation began with surveillance of a commercial trailer. The post 700 pounds of meth hidden in cucumber load leads to 15-year prison sentences appeared first on FreightWaves .",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}