Huge cross-border tunnel found linking Tijuana, San Diego

SAN DIEGO (AP) — U.S. authorities on Monday introduced the invention of a significant drug smuggling tunnel — operating concerning the length of a six soccer fields — from Mexico to a warehouse in an industrial space within the U.S.

The key passage from Tijuana to San Diego featured rail and air flow programs, electrical energy and bolstered partitions, authorities stated. It was discovered close to San Diego’s Otay Mesa border crossing in an space the place more than a dozen other subtle tunnels have been discovered in the last twenty years.

U.S. authorities mentioned it was unknown how lengthy the tunnel had been working and what quantity of medication, if any, got via 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 some of the fortified stretches of the border, illustrating the limitations of border partitions. Whereas thought of efficient in opposition to small, crudely constructed tunnels called “gopher holes,” walls are no match for more refined passages that run deeper underground.

The newest 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 type of medicine seized might sign a shift from the multi-ton loads of marijuana that have been often present in discoveries before California legalized pot for leisure use in 2019.

Hard medication, such as heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl, are sometimes smuggled via official border crossings from Mexico as a result of their small size and lack of odor make them difficult to detect. However tunnels give smugglers an advantage of with the ability to carry huge masses at lightning pace.

The tunnel exited the US in a nondescript warehouse named “Amistad Park” on a road that is busy with large semitrailers through 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 medication, officers began making site visitors stops of automobiles that had been there or at a warehouse close to the border, turning up containers stuffed with cocaine, in line with a federal legal complaint filed in San Diego.

They raided the properties — finding no different drugs at the warehouse, however a tunnel opening carved into the cement ground, federal prosecutors mentioned.

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 space, the place clay-like soil is conducive to digging and warehouses present cowl.

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're generally found in California and Arizona and related to Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel.

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

“There is no extra gentle at the finish of this narco-tunnel,” said Randy Grossman, U.S. legal professional for the Southern District of California. “We will take down each subterranean smuggling route we find to maintain illicit drugs from reaching our streets and destroying our households and communities.”

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

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Related Press writer Eugene Johnson in Seattle contributed.