Huge cross-border tunnel discovered linking Tijuana, San Diego

SAN DIEGO (AP) — U.S. authorities on Monday introduced the discovery of a significant drug smuggling tunnel — operating concerning the length 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 air flow techniques, electricity and reinforced walls, authorities said. It was discovered close to San Diego’s Otay Mesa border crossing in an area the place greater than a dozen other refined tunnels have been found within the last 20 years.

U.S. authorities stated it was unknown how long the tunnel had been operating and what quantity of drugs, if any, got via undetected. They seized 1,762 kilos (799 kg) of cocaine, 165 pounds (75 kg) of meth and three.5 kilos (1.6 kg) of heroin in reference to the investigation.

Six folks, ages 31 to 55, had been charged with conspiring to distribute cocaine. All are Southern California residents.

The tunnel is in probably the most fortified stretches of the border, illustrating the constraints of border walls. Whereas considered effective against small, crudely built tunnels known as “gopher holes,” walls 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 tales deep.

The type of medication seized could signal a shift from the multi-ton loads of marijuana that have been often found in discoveries before California legalized pot for leisure use in 2019.

Laborious medication, akin to heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl, are sometimes smuggled via official border crossings from Mexico because their small measurement and lack of odor make them difficult to detect. However tunnels give smugglers a bonus of having the ability to carry large loads at lightning velocity.

The tunnel exited the USA in a nondescript warehouse named “Amistad Park” on a road that's busy with large semitrailers throughout 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 just lately used to stash medicine, officers began making traffic stops of automobiles that had been there or at a warehouse near the border, turning up boxes filled with cocaine, in accordance with a federal prison grievance filed in San Diego.

They raided the properties — discovering no other medication at the warehouse, but a tunnel opening carved into the cement floor, federal prosecutors said.

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

Many tunnels, together with the one introduced Monday, are in San Diego’s Otay Mesa industrial area, the place clay-like soil is conducive to digging and warehouses present cowl.

The cross-border passages date back to the early Nineteen Nineties 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 are usually present in California and Arizona and associated with Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel.

Authorities declined to link the latest tunnel to any specific cartel. They claimed victory despite not understanding how lengthy it had been working.

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

By federal legislation, U.S. authorities must fill the U.S. aspect of tunnels with concrete after they're discovered.

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Associated Press writer Eugene Johnson in Seattle contributed.