Massive cross-border tunnel found linking Tijuana, San Diego

SAN DIEGO (AP) — U.S. authorities on Monday introduced the discovery of a significant drug smuggling tunnel — running about the size of a six soccer 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 systems, electricity and strengthened partitions, authorities said. It was found near San Diego’s Otay Mesa border crossing in an space where greater than a dozen different refined tunnels have been discovered within the last twenty years.

U.S. authorities mentioned it was unknown how lengthy the tunnel had been operating and what amount of medication, if any, acquired by way of undetected. They seized 1,762 pounds (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, were charged with conspiring to distribute cocaine. All are Southern California residents.

The tunnel is in one of the most fortified stretches of the border, illustrating the restrictions of border partitions. Whereas considered efficient against small, crudely constructed tunnels referred to as “gopher holes,” partitions are no match for extra refined passages that run deeper underground.

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

The kind of medicine seized might sign a shift from the multi-ton a great deal of marijuana that have been often found in discoveries before California legalized pot for recreational use in 2019.

Arduous drugs, reminiscent of 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 a bonus of being able to carry enormous loads at lightning velocity.

The tunnel exited the United States in a nondescript warehouse named “Amistad Park” on a street that is busy with giant semitrailers during the day but quiet at night. On Monday, armed guards watched over a small shaft with a ladder that descended into the tunnel.

After staking out a house that was just lately used to stash drugs, officials started making visitors stops of autos that had been there or at a warehouse close to the border, turning up packing containers full of cocaine, in line with a federal legal complaint filed in San Diego.

They raided the properties — discovering no different medicine at the warehouse, but 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 announced Monday, are in San Diego’s Otay Mesa industrial space, the place clay-like soil is conducive to digging and warehouses present cover.

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

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

“There is no such thing as a extra mild on the end of this narco-tunnel,” said Randy Grossman, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California. “We are going to take down each subterranean smuggling route we find to keep illicit medication from reaching our streets and destroying our households and communities.”

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

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Associated Press author Eugene Johnson in Seattle contributed.