Huge cross-border tunnel found linking Tijuana, San Diego

SAN DIEGO (AP) — U.S. authorities on Monday introduced the invention 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 ventilation techniques, electricity and strengthened partitions, authorities stated. It was found near San Diego’s Otay Mesa border crossing in an area where more than a dozen other sophisticated tunnels have been found in the last 20 years.

U.S. authorities stated it was unknown how lengthy the tunnel had been operating and what amount of medicine, if any, got via undetected. They seized 1,762 pounds (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 people, ages 31 to 55, had been 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 restrictions of border walls. While thought of efficient towards small, crudely constructed tunnels referred to as “gopher holes,” walls are no match for extra refined passages that run deeper underground.

The most recent 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 kind of medicine seized could signal a shift from the multi-ton loads of marijuana that have been usually found in discoveries before California legalized pot for recreational use in 2019.

Onerous medication, such as heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl, are typically smuggled by means of official border crossings from Mexico as a result of their small size and lack of odor make them difficult to detect. But tunnels give smugglers an advantage of with the ability to carry enormous masses at lightning pace.

The tunnel exited america 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 home that was lately used to stash drugs, officials started making traffic stops of autos that had been there or at a warehouse near the border, turning up boxes stuffed with cocaine, according to a federal criminal grievance filed in San Diego.

They raided the properties — finding no other drugs at the warehouse, but a tunnel opening carved into the cement ground, federal prosecutors said.

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

Many tunnels, including the one introduced 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're usually present in California and Arizona and related to Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel.

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

“There is no extra gentle at the finish of this narco-tunnel,” said 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 drugs from reaching our streets and destroying our households and communities.”

By federal regulation, U.S. authorities should fill the U.S. facet of tunnels with concrete after they are found.

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Associated Press author Eugene Johnson in Seattle contributed.