Large cross-border tunnel discovered linking Tijuana, San Diego

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

The key passage from Tijuana to San Diego featured rail and ventilation programs, electricity and bolstered walls, authorities said. It was discovered near San Diego’s Otay Mesa border crossing in an space the place more than a dozen other subtle tunnels have been found in the last 20 years.

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

Six individuals, ages 31 to 55, have 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 limitations of border partitions. While thought-about efficient towards small, crudely constructed tunnels referred to as “gopher holes,” partitions are not any match for more refined passages that run deeper underground.

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

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

Onerous medication, comparable to heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl, are sometimes smuggled by way of official border crossings from Mexico as a result of their small dimension and lack of odor make them difficult to detect. However tunnels give smugglers an advantage of having the ability to carry large hundreds at lightning velocity.

The tunnel exited the US in a nondescript warehouse named “Amistad Park” on a road that is busy with massive semitrailers through the day however 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 lately used to stash medicine, officers began making traffic stops of automobiles that had been there or at a warehouse close to the border, turning up bins stuffed with cocaine, based on a federal criminal complaint filed in San Diego.

They raided the properties — finding no different drugs on the warehouse, but a tunnel opening carved into the cement flooring, federal prosecutors mentioned.

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

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

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

Authorities declined to hyperlink the latest tunnel to any specific cartel. They claimed victory despite not realizing how lengthy it had been working.

“There is no such thing as a extra mild at the finish of this narco-tunnel,” mentioned Randy Grossman, U.S. legal professional for the Southern District of California. “We are going to take down every subterranean smuggling route we discover to keep illicit drugs from reaching our streets and destroying our households and communities.”

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

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Related Press author Eugene Johnson in Seattle contributed.