Massive cross-border tunnel found linking Tijuana, San Diego

SAN DIEGO (AP) — U.S. authorities on Monday announced the discovery of a major drug smuggling tunnel — running about the size of a six soccer fields — from Mexico to a warehouse in an industrial space in the U.S.

The secret passage from Tijuana to San Diego featured rail and ventilation methods, electrical energy and bolstered walls, authorities said. It was discovered near San Diego’s Otay Mesa border crossing in an space the place greater than a dozen other sophisticated tunnels have been discovered in the last two decades.

U.S. authorities stated it was unknown how lengthy the tunnel had been working and what amount of drugs, if any, bought through undetected. They seized 1,762 pounds (799 kg) of cocaine, 165 kilos (75 kg) of meth and three.5 kilos (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 crucial fortified stretches of the border, illustrating the constraints of border walls. While considered effective against small, crudely constructed tunnels called “gopher holes,” walls are not any match for more subtle 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 tales deep.

The kind of drugs seized might signal a shift from the multi-ton a great deal of marijuana that had been often present in discoveries earlier than California legalized pot for recreational use in 2019.

Onerous medicine, akin to heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl, are usually smuggled by way of official border crossings from Mexico as a result of their small dimension and lack of odor make them difficult to detect. However tunnels give smugglers a bonus of being able to carry enormous loads at lightning speed.

The tunnel exited the US in a nondescript warehouse named “Amistad Park” on a road that is busy with massive semitrailers in the course of 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 medicine, officials began making visitors stops of automobiles that had been there or at a warehouse near the border, turning up boxes filled with cocaine, in keeping with a federal legal criticism filed in San Diego.

They raided the properties — finding no different medication on the warehouse, but a tunnel opening carved into the cement ground, federal prosecutors mentioned.

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

The cross-border passages date back to the early 1990s and have been used primarily to smuggle multi-ton a great deal of marijuana. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration stated in 2020 that they're generally 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 despite not understanding how long it had been operating.

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

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

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Associated Press author Eugene Johnson in Seattle contributed.