Massive cross-border tunnel found linking Tijuana, San Diego

SAN DIEGO (AP) — U.S. authorities on Monday announced the discovery of a serious drug smuggling tunnel — running concerning the size of a six football 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 air flow programs, electricity and reinforced walls, authorities stated. It was discovered close to San Diego’s Otay Mesa border crossing in an area where greater than a dozen other subtle tunnels have been discovered within the last two decades.

U.S. authorities mentioned it was unknown how long the tunnel had been working and what quantity of medication, if any, received by undetected. They seized 1,762 kilos (799 kg) of cocaine, 165 kilos (75 kg) of meth and 3.5 kilos (1.6 kg) of heroin in reference to the investigation.

Six folks, ages 31 to 55, had been charged with conspiring to distribute cocaine. All are Southern California residents.

The tunnel is in one of the vital fortified stretches of the border, illustrating the constraints of border walls. Whereas thought-about efficient in opposition to small, crudely constructed tunnels known as “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 feet (1.2 m) in diameter and about six tales deep.

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

Exhausting drugs, comparable to heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl, are typically smuggled by official border crossings from Mexico as a result of their small measurement and lack of odor make them troublesome to detect. But tunnels give smugglers a bonus of with the ability to carry large loads at lightning speed.

The tunnel exited the United States in a nondescript warehouse named “Amistad Park” on a street that's busy with giant semitrailers during the day but 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 recently used to stash medicine, officers started making visitors stops of autos that had been there or at a warehouse near the border, turning up bins stuffed with cocaine, based on a federal legal grievance filed in San Diego.

They raided the properties — discovering no different medication at the warehouse, however a tunnel opening carved into the cement floor, federal prosecutors mentioned.

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 present cowl.

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 stated in 2020 that they are usually found in California and Arizona and associated with Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel.

Authorities declined to link the newest tunnel to any specific cartel. They claimed victory regardless of not figuring out how long it had been operating.

“There isn't a more 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 households and communities.”

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

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Related Press writer Eugene Johnson in Seattle contributed.