Huge cross-border tunnel found linking Tijuana, San Diego

SAN DIEGO (AP) — U.S. authorities on Monday introduced the discovery of a major drug smuggling tunnel — operating concerning the size of a six football fields — from Mexico to a warehouse in an industrial area in the U.S.

The key passage from Tijuana to San Diego featured rail and ventilation systems, electricity and reinforced walls, authorities mentioned. It was found near San Diego’s Otay Mesa border crossing in an area the place more than a dozen other subtle tunnels have been found in the final 20 years.

U.S. authorities stated it was unknown how long the tunnel had been working and what amount of medicine, if any, received by means of undetected. They seized 1,762 kilos (799 kg) of cocaine, 165 pounds (75 kg) of meth and three.5 pounds (1.6 kg) of heroin in reference to the investigation.

Six folks, ages 31 to 55, were charged with conspiring to distribute cocaine. All are Southern California residents.

The tunnel is in probably the most fortified stretches of the border, illustrating the restrictions of border partitions. While thought-about efficient in opposition to small, crudely built tunnels called “gopher holes,” partitions aren't any match for more refined passages that run deeper underground.

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

The kind of medication seized could signal a shift from the multi-ton a great deal of marijuana that have been usually found in discoveries before California legalized pot for leisure use in 2019.

Hard drugs, akin to heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl, are usually smuggled through official border crossings from Mexico as a result of their small dimension and lack of odor make them troublesome to detect. But tunnels give smugglers an advantage of being able to carry huge hundreds at lightning pace.

The tunnel exited america in a nondescript warehouse named “Amistad Park” on a avenue that's busy with giant 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 house that was not too long ago used to stash medicine, officers started making traffic stops of autos that had been there or at a warehouse near the border, turning up boxes full of cocaine, in response to a federal criminal criticism filed in San Diego.

They raided the properties — discovering no other drugs at the warehouse, but a tunnel opening carved into the cement flooring, federal prosecutors mentioned.

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

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

The cross-border passages date again to the early Nineteen Nineties and have been used primarily to smuggle multi-ton loads of marijuana. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration mentioned in 2020 that they are typically found in California and Arizona and related to Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel.

Authorities declined to link the newest tunnel to any specific cartel. They claimed victory regardless of not understanding how lengthy it had been operating.

“There is no extra light on the finish of this narco-tunnel,” stated Randy Grossman, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California. “We will take down each subterranean smuggling route we discover to maintain illicit drugs from reaching our streets and destroying our families and communities.”

By federal regulation, U.S. authorities should fill the U.S. side of tunnels with concrete after they are discovered.

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Related Press author Eugene Johnson in Seattle contributed.