Huge cross-border tunnel discovered linking Tijuana, San Diego

SAN DIEGO (AP) — U.S. authorities on Monday introduced the invention of a major drug smuggling tunnel — running 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 ventilation techniques, electrical energy and bolstered partitions, authorities stated. It was discovered close to San Diego’s Otay Mesa border crossing in an space the place greater than a dozen other subtle tunnels have been found in the final two decades.

U.S. authorities said it was unknown how long the tunnel had been operating and what amount of drugs, if any, got through 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 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 one of the fortified stretches of the border, illustrating the constraints of border partitions. Whereas thought of effective towards small, crudely constructed tunnels called “gopher holes,” walls are no match for extra sophisticated 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 stories deep.

The type of medication seized might sign a shift from the multi-ton a great deal of marijuana that have been often present in discoveries earlier than California legalized pot for recreational use in 2019.

Arduous medicine, reminiscent of heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl, are usually smuggled by 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 with the ability to carry big loads at lightning velocity.

The tunnel exited the US in a nondescript warehouse named “Amistad Park” on a avenue that is busy with large semitrailers throughout the day however 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 home that was not too long ago used to stash medication, officers started making site visitors stops of automobiles that had been there or at a warehouse close to the border, turning up packing containers full of cocaine, based on a federal felony complaint filed in San Diego.

They raided the properties — discovering no other medicine on the warehouse, however a tunnel opening carved into the cement flooring, federal prosecutors mentioned.

Authorities have found about 15 refined 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, where clay-like soil is conducive to digging and warehouses provide cover.

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

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

“There is no extra mild at the end of this narco-tunnel,” mentioned Randy Grossman, U.S. lawyer for the Southern District of California. “We'll take down each subterranean smuggling route we discover to maintain illicit drugs from reaching our streets and destroying our households and communities.”

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

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Related Press author Eugene Johnson in Seattle contributed.