Large 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 — operating about the length of a six soccer 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 air flow systems, electrical energy and strengthened walls, authorities stated. It was discovered close to San Diego’s Otay Mesa border crossing in an area the place greater than a dozen different sophisticated tunnels have been found within the last twenty years.

U.S. authorities stated it was unknown how lengthy the tunnel had been working and what quantity of medication, if any, bought by way of undetected. They seized 1,762 kilos (799 kg) of cocaine, 165 kilos (75 kg) of meth and 3.5 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 one of the crucial fortified stretches of the border, illustrating the restrictions of border partitions. Whereas thought-about effective in opposition to small, crudely constructed tunnels known as “gopher holes,” partitions aren't any match for extra refined passages that run deeper underground.

The most recent passage, found 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 drugs seized may sign a shift from the multi-ton a great deal of marijuana that have been usually found in discoveries earlier than California legalized pot for recreational use in 2019.

Arduous drugs, reminiscent of heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl, are usually smuggled by means of official border crossings from Mexico as a result of their small measurement and lack of odor make them troublesome to detect. However tunnels give smugglers a bonus of having the ability to carry enormous loads at lightning pace.

The tunnel exited the United States in a nondescript warehouse named “Amistad Park” on a avenue that is busy with massive 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 home that was recently used to stash medication, officers started making site visitors stops of vehicles that had been there or at a warehouse close to the border, turning up packing containers stuffed with cocaine, according to a federal felony complaint filed in San Diego.

They raided the properties — discovering no other medicine on the warehouse, but a tunnel opening carved into the cement ground, federal prosecutors said.

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

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

Authorities declined to hyperlink the most recent tunnel to any particular cartel. They claimed victory despite not realizing how long it had been working.

“There is no more light at the end of this narco-tunnel,” said Randy Grossman, U.S. legal professional 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 regulation, U.S. authorities must fill the U.S. facet of tunnels with concrete after they're found.

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Associated Press writer Eugene Johnson in Seattle contributed.