Big cross-border tunnel found linking Tijuana, San Diego

SAN DIEGO (AP) — U.S. authorities on Monday announced the discovery of a serious drug smuggling tunnel — operating about the length of a six soccer fields — from Mexico to a warehouse in an industrial space in the U.S.

The secret passage from Tijuana to San Diego featured rail and ventilation methods, electrical energy and strengthened walls, authorities stated. It was discovered close to San Diego’s Otay Mesa border crossing in an space the place more than a dozen different sophisticated tunnels have been found within the last 20 years.

U.S. authorities mentioned it was unknown how long the tunnel had been working and what amount of medicine, if any, obtained through undetected. They seized 1,762 kilos (799 kg) of cocaine, 165 pounds (75 kg) of meth and 3.5 pounds (1.6 kg) of heroin in connection with the investigation.

Six individuals, ages 31 to 55, had been charged with conspiring to distribute cocaine. All are Southern California residents.

The tunnel is in one of the crucial fortified stretches of the border, illustrating the restrictions of border walls. Whereas thought of efficient in opposition to small, crudely constructed tunnels called “gopher holes,” partitions aren't any match for extra subtle passages that run deeper underground.

The most recent passage, found Friday, ran one-third of a mile (532 m) to Tijuana. It was 4 feet (1.2 m) in diameter and about six stories deep.

The type of medication seized might signal a shift from the multi-ton a great deal of marijuana that had been often present in discoveries before California legalized pot for recreational use in 2019.

Laborious drugs, comparable to heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl, are usually smuggled via official border crossings from Mexico because their small dimension and lack of odor make them troublesome to detect. However tunnels give smugglers an advantage of being able to carry large masses at lightning velocity.

The tunnel exited the US in a nondescript warehouse named “Amistad Park” on a avenue that's busy with massive semitrailers in the course of the day but quiet at night time. On Monday, armed guards watched over a small shaft with a ladder that descended into the tunnel.

After staking out a home that was just lately used to stash drugs, officials started making site visitors stops of vehicles that had been there or at a warehouse close to the border, turning up packing containers full of cocaine, in accordance with a federal prison grievance filed in San Diego.

They raided the properties — finding no other drugs at the warehouse, however a tunnel opening carved into the cement ground, federal prosecutors stated.

Authorities have discovered about 15 subtle tunnels on California’s border with Mexico since 2006.

Many tunnels, including the one introduced Monday, are in San Diego’s Otay Mesa industrial space, where clay-like soil is conducive to digging and warehouses provide cowl.

The cross-border passages date back to the early 1990s and have been used primarily to smuggle multi-ton loads of marijuana. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration mentioned in 2020 that they're generally found in California and Arizona and associated with Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel.

Authorities declined to link the latest tunnel to any particular cartel. They claimed victory despite not realizing how lengthy it had been operating.

“There is no more gentle at the end of this narco-tunnel,” mentioned Randy Grossman, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California. “We are going to take down every subterranean smuggling route we discover to maintain illicit medication from reaching our streets and destroying our families and communities.”

By federal regulation, U.S. authorities must fill the U.S. side of tunnels with concrete after they're discovered.

___=

Associated Press writer Eugene Johnson in Seattle contributed.