Huge cross-border tunnel found linking Tijuana, San Diego

SAN DIEGO (AP) — U.S. authorities on Monday introduced the discovery of a serious drug smuggling tunnel — working about the length of a six football 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 systems, electricity and strengthened walls, authorities said. It was found close to San Diego’s Otay Mesa border crossing in an area the place more than a dozen other refined tunnels have been discovered in the last two decades.

U.S. authorities stated it was unknown how long the tunnel had been operating and what quantity of drugs, if any, received via undetected. They seized 1,762 pounds (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 people, ages 31 to 55, have 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 restrictions of border partitions. While thought-about efficient towards small, crudely constructed tunnels called “gopher holes,” partitions are no match for extra sophisticated passages that run deeper underground.

The newest 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 type of drugs seized might signal a shift from the multi-ton loads of marijuana that have been usually present in discoveries earlier than California legalized pot for recreational use in 2019.

Arduous medicine, reminiscent of heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl, are typically smuggled by means of official border crossings from Mexico because their small dimension and lack of odor make them troublesome to detect. However tunnels give smugglers an advantage of having the ability to carry large masses at lightning speed.

The tunnel exited the USA in a nondescript warehouse named “Amistad Park” on a avenue that's busy with massive semitrailers through the day but quiet at night. 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 drugs, officers began making site visitors stops of vehicles that had been there or at a warehouse close to the border, turning up bins filled with cocaine, in response to a federal prison grievance filed in San Diego.

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

Authorities have discovered about 15 sophisticated 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 space, where clay-like soil is conducive to digging and warehouses provide cover.

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

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

“There is no such thing as a extra mild at the end of this narco-tunnel,” stated Randy Grossman, U.S. legal professional 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 law, U.S. authorities must fill the U.S. facet of tunnels with concrete after they are found.

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Related Press writer Eugene Johnson in Seattle contributed.