Huge cross-border tunnel discovered linking Tijuana, San Diego

SAN DIEGO (AP) — U.S. authorities on Monday introduced the discovery of a major drug smuggling tunnel — working in regards to the size of a six football 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 air flow techniques, electrical energy and reinforced walls, authorities stated. It was found close to San Diego’s Otay Mesa border crossing in an space where greater than a dozen different refined tunnels have been discovered in the last 20 years.

U.S. authorities stated it was unknown how lengthy the tunnel had been operating and what amount of medication, if any, bought through undetected. They seized 1,762 kilos (799 kg) of cocaine, 165 kilos (75 kg) of meth and 3.5 kilos (1.6 kg) of heroin in reference to the investigation.

Six individuals, 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 walls. While thought of efficient against small, crudely constructed tunnels known as “gopher holes,” walls are not any match for more refined passages that run deeper underground.

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

The kind of drugs seized could signal a shift from the multi-ton a great deal of marijuana that were typically present in discoveries earlier than California legalized pot for recreational use in 2019.

Laborious medicine, reminiscent of heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl, are sometimes smuggled by way of official border crossings from Mexico because their small measurement and lack of odor make them difficult to detect. However tunnels give smugglers an advantage of with the ability to carry large masses at lightning pace.

The tunnel exited the USA in a nondescript warehouse named “Amistad Park” on a street that is busy with giant semitrailers during the day however quiet at night. 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, officials began making site visitors stops of autos that had been there or at a warehouse near the border, turning up boxes stuffed with cocaine, according to a federal prison complaint filed in San Diego.

They raided the properties — finding no different drugs at the warehouse, but a tunnel opening carved into the cement floor, federal prosecutors stated.

Authorities have found about 15 sophisticated 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 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're generally found in California and Arizona and related to Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel.

Authorities declined to hyperlink the most recent tunnel to any particular cartel. They claimed victory regardless of not knowing how lengthy it had been working.

“There is no extra light on the finish of this narco-tunnel,” stated Randy Grossman, U.S. legal professional for the Southern District of California. “We'll take down each subterranean smuggling route we find to maintain illicit drugs 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 are found.

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Related Press author Eugene Johnson in Seattle contributed.