Huge cross-border tunnel discovered linking Tijuana, San Diego

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

The secret passage from Tijuana to San Diego featured rail and ventilation programs, electricity and reinforced partitions, authorities mentioned. It was found close to San Diego’s Otay Mesa border crossing in an space where greater than a dozen other subtle tunnels have been discovered within the last twenty years.

U.S. authorities stated it was unknown how lengthy the tunnel had been operating and what quantity of medication, 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 people, ages 31 to 55, were 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 constraints of border partitions. While considered efficient against small, crudely built tunnels called “gopher holes,” partitions aren't any match for more subtle 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 loads of marijuana that were typically found in discoveries before California legalized pot for leisure use in 2019.

Hard drugs, resembling heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl, are usually smuggled through official border crossings from Mexico because their small dimension and lack of odor make them difficult to detect. But tunnels give smugglers an advantage of with the ability to carry large hundreds at lightning velocity.

The tunnel exited the USA in a nondescript warehouse named “Amistad Park” on a street that's busy with large semitrailers in the course of the day however quiet at evening. On Monday, armed guards watched over a small shaft with a ladder that descended into the tunnel.

After staking out a house that was recently used to stash medicine, officials started making site visitors stops of vehicles that had been there or at a warehouse close to the border, turning up bins full of cocaine, in response to a federal criminal criticism filed in San Diego.

They raided the properties — finding no other medication on the warehouse, however a tunnel opening carved into the cement flooring, federal prosecutors said.

Authorities have discovered 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 area, the place clay-like soil is conducive to digging and warehouses provide cover.

The cross-border passages date back to the early 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 usually found in California and Arizona and related to Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel.

Authorities declined to hyperlink the newest tunnel to any specific cartel. They claimed victory despite not figuring out how long it had been working.

“There is no such thing as a extra light at the end of this narco-tunnel,” stated Randy Grossman, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California. “We'll take down each subterranean smuggling route we discover to keep illicit medicine from reaching our streets and destroying our families and communities.”

By federal regulation, U.S. authorities must fill the U.S. facet of tunnels with concrete after they are found.

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Related Press author Eugene Johnson in Seattle contributed.