Large cross-border tunnel found linking Tijuana, San Diego

SAN DIEGO (AP) — U.S. authorities on Monday introduced the discovery of a major drug smuggling tunnel — running in regards to 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 techniques, electricity and strengthened walls, authorities said. It was discovered near San Diego’s Otay Mesa border crossing in an space the place more than a dozen other subtle tunnels have been discovered within the final 20 years.

U.S. authorities said it was unknown how lengthy the tunnel had been working and what amount of medication, if any, received via 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 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 fortified stretches of the border, illustrating the constraints of border walls. While thought-about effective against small, crudely built tunnels known as “gopher holes,” partitions are no match for extra sophisticated passages that run deeper underground.

The latest 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 tales deep.

The type of medicine seized could signal a shift from the multi-ton a great deal of marijuana that were usually found in discoveries earlier than California legalized pot for recreational use in 2019.

Onerous medication, similar to heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl, are usually smuggled by official border crossings from Mexico as a result of their small size and lack of odor make them tough to detect. But tunnels give smugglers a bonus of with the ability to carry large loads at lightning velocity.

The tunnel exited the US in a nondescript warehouse named “Amistad Park” on a avenue that's busy with massive semitrailers in the course of the day but 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 not too long ago used to stash drugs, officers started making traffic stops of autos that had been there or at a warehouse near the border, turning up bins stuffed with cocaine, in response to a federal criminal criticism filed in San Diego.

They raided the properties — finding no other drugs on the warehouse, but a tunnel opening carved into the cement flooring, federal prosecutors stated.

Authorities have found about 15 refined tunnels on California’s border with Mexico since 2006.

Many tunnels, together with 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 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 typically present in California and Arizona and related to Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel.

Authorities declined to hyperlink the newest tunnel to any particular cartel. They claimed victory regardless of not understanding how long it had been working.

“There is no extra light on the finish of this narco-tunnel,” mentioned Randy Grossman, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California. “We are going to take down every subterranean smuggling route we discover to keep illicit drugs from reaching our streets and destroying our households and communities.”

By federal legislation, U.S. authorities should fill the U.S. side of tunnels with concrete after they're found.

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Related Press writer Eugene Johnson in Seattle contributed.