Big 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 — running about the length of a six soccer 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, electrical energy and bolstered partitions, authorities said. It was discovered close to San Diego’s Otay Mesa border crossing in an space where more than a dozen different sophisticated tunnels have been discovered within the final two decades.

U.S. authorities mentioned it was unknown how long the tunnel had been working and what quantity of medicine, if any, acquired by means of undetected. They seized 1,762 kilos (799 kg) of cocaine, 165 pounds (75 kg) of meth and three.5 pounds (1.6 kg) of heroin in reference to 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 fortified stretches of the border, illustrating the restrictions of border partitions. Whereas considered effective against small, crudely built 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 tales deep.

The type of drugs seized might sign a shift from the multi-ton loads of marijuana that had been typically found in discoveries before California legalized pot for leisure use in 2019.

Exhausting medication, comparable to heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl, are typically smuggled through official border crossings from Mexico because their small size and lack of odor make them tough to detect. However tunnels give smugglers a bonus of being able to carry big loads at lightning speed.

The tunnel exited the USA in a nondescript warehouse named “Amistad Park” on a avenue that's busy with giant 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 lately used to stash medicine, officials began making visitors stops of vehicles that had been there or at a warehouse close to the border, turning up boxes stuffed with cocaine, in line with a federal criminal grievance filed in San Diego.

They raided the properties — finding no other medicine at the warehouse, but a tunnel opening carved into the cement floor, federal prosecutors mentioned.

Authorities have discovered 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 provide 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 said in 2020 that they are generally found in California and Arizona and associated with Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel.

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

“There is no more gentle at the end of this narco-tunnel,” mentioned Randy Grossman, U.S. legal professional for the Southern District of California. “We'll take down every 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 should fill the U.S. aspect of tunnels with concrete after they are discovered.

___=

Associated Press author Eugene Johnson in Seattle contributed.