U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at the airport had searched the boy's luggage after he arrived in San Jose from Mexico that afternoon and found five 1-liter tequila bottles containing a clear liquid, customs spokesman Frank Falcon said.
The officers tested the contents of the bottles at a laboratory and confirmed that the liquid was methamphetamine with a total street value of $500,000, according to Falcon.
The methamphetamine was seized and the evidence turned over to the San Jose Police Department, Falcon said.
The boy, who had been detained by federal authorities while the bottles were being tested, was released from federal custody and arrested by San Jose police, Falcon said.
