Big 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 — operating concerning the size of a six soccer fields — from Mexico to a warehouse in an industrial space within the U.S.

The secret passage from Tijuana to San Diego featured rail and ventilation methods, electrical energy and bolstered walls, authorities stated. It was discovered near San Diego’s Otay Mesa border crossing in an area the place more than a dozen different sophisticated tunnels have been found in the last twenty years.

U.S. authorities said it was unknown how lengthy the tunnel had been working and what quantity of drugs, if any, bought by undetected. They seized 1,762 pounds (799 kg) of cocaine, 165 kilos (75 kg) of meth and three.5 pounds (1.6 kg) of heroin in connection with the investigation.

Six folks, ages 31 to 55, were 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 partitions. While thought-about effective towards small, crudely built tunnels referred to as “gopher holes,” partitions aren't any match for more sophisticated passages that run deeper underground.

The latest passage, discovered Friday, ran one-third of a mile (532 m) to Tijuana. It was 4 toes (1.2 m) in diameter and about six tales deep.

The kind of medication seized may sign a shift from the multi-ton loads of marijuana that were often present in discoveries earlier than California legalized pot for leisure use in 2019.

Arduous drugs, resembling 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 troublesome to detect. However tunnels give smugglers an advantage of having the ability to carry big hundreds at lightning pace.

The tunnel exited the US in a nondescript warehouse named “Amistad Park” on a avenue that is busy with large semitrailers through 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 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 containers filled with cocaine, in response to a federal prison complaint filed in San Diego.

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

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, where clay-like soil is conducive to digging and warehouses present cover.

The cross-border passages date again to the early Nineteen Nineties and have been used primarily to smuggle multi-ton loads of marijuana. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration mentioned in 2020 that they're typically found in California and Arizona and related to Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel.

Authorities declined to hyperlink the most recent tunnel to any specific cartel. They claimed victory despite not understanding how lengthy it had been operating.

“There is no such thing as a extra mild at the finish of this narco-tunnel,” stated Randy Grossman, U.S. lawyer for the Southern District of California. “We are going to take down each subterranean smuggling route we find to maintain illicit drugs from reaching our streets and destroying our families and communities.”

By federal law, U.S. authorities should 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.