Large cross-border tunnel found linking Tijuana, San Diego

SAN DIEGO (AP) — U.S. authorities on Monday introduced the invention of a serious drug smuggling tunnel — running concerning the size of a six soccer fields — from Mexico to a warehouse in an industrial space within the U.S.

The key passage from Tijuana to San Diego featured rail and air flow techniques, electricity and strengthened walls, authorities stated. It was discovered near San Diego’s Otay Mesa border crossing in an area the place more than a dozen different refined tunnels have been found within 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, received by way of 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 reference to 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 most fortified stretches of the border, illustrating the limitations of border partitions. While considered effective in opposition to small, crudely built tunnels referred to as “gopher holes,” walls aren't any match for more subtle passages that run deeper underground.

The newest passage, discovered 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 could signal a shift from the multi-ton loads of marijuana that have been usually present in discoveries before California legalized pot for recreational use in 2019.

Onerous medication, such as heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl, are usually smuggled by way of official border crossings from Mexico because their small measurement and lack of odor make them troublesome to detect. However tunnels give smugglers an advantage of being able to carry enormous loads at lightning pace.

The tunnel exited the USA in a nondescript warehouse named “Amistad Park” on a road that's busy with giant semitrailers during the day but 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 medication, officials started making site visitors stops of autos that had been there or at a warehouse near the border, turning up packing containers stuffed with cocaine, in keeping with a federal criminal complaint filed in San Diego.

They raided the properties — finding no other medicine on the warehouse, but 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 introduced Monday, are in San Diego’s Otay Mesa industrial area, where clay-like soil is conducive to digging and warehouses present cowl.

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

Authorities declined to hyperlink the newest tunnel to any specific cartel. They claimed victory despite not figuring out how lengthy it had been operating.

“There is no such thing as a extra light 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 each subterranean smuggling route we discover to maintain illicit medication from reaching our streets and destroying our families and communities.”

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

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Related Press writer Eugene Johnson in Seattle contributed.