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

The key passage from Tijuana to San Diego featured rail and air flow systems, electrical energy and bolstered walls, authorities stated. It was discovered near San Diego’s Otay Mesa border crossing in an space where more than a dozen different subtle tunnels have been discovered within the final two decades.

U.S. authorities stated it was unknown how long the tunnel had been operating and what quantity of medication, if any, got by means of undetected. They seized 1,762 kilos (799 kg) of cocaine, 165 pounds (75 kg) of meth and 3.5 kilos (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 probably the most fortified stretches of the border, illustrating the constraints of border partitions. While thought of effective in opposition to small, crudely built tunnels known as “gopher holes,” partitions aren't any match for extra 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 stories deep.

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

Laborious drugs, akin to heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl, are usually smuggled by official border crossings from Mexico because their small dimension and lack of odor make them difficult to detect. But tunnels give smugglers a bonus of with the ability to carry large hundreds at lightning pace.

The tunnel exited america in a nondescript warehouse named “Amistad Park” on a avenue that's 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 house that was just lately used to stash drugs, officers began making traffic stops of automobiles that had been there or at a warehouse close to the border, turning up boxes filled with cocaine, in keeping with a federal felony complaint filed in San Diego.

They raided the properties — discovering no different drugs on the warehouse, however a tunnel opening carved into the cement ground, federal prosecutors said.

Authorities have discovered about 15 sophisticated 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 cover.

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 stated in 2020 that they are generally found in California and Arizona and related to Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel.

Authorities declined to hyperlink the latest tunnel to any specific cartel. They claimed victory despite not realizing how long it had been operating.

“There is no such thing as a extra gentle at the finish of this narco-tunnel,” said Randy Grossman, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California. “We will take down every subterranean smuggling route we discover to keep illicit medication from reaching our streets and destroying our families and communities.”

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

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Associated Press author Eugene Johnson in Seattle contributed.