Huge 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 — working about the length of a six soccer fields — from Mexico to a warehouse in an industrial space within the U.S.

The secret passage from Tijuana to San Diego featured rail and air flow programs, electrical energy and strengthened walls, authorities said. It was discovered close to San Diego’s Otay Mesa border crossing in an space the place more than a dozen different sophisticated tunnels have been found in the last 20 years.

U.S. authorities mentioned it was unknown how lengthy the tunnel had been working and what amount of drugs, if any, bought by way of 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 folks, ages 31 to 55, have been charged with conspiring to distribute cocaine. All are Southern California residents.

The tunnel is in some of the fortified stretches of the border, illustrating the limitations of border walls. While considered effective 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, found Friday, ran one-third of a mile (532 m) to Tijuana. It was 4 toes (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 had been often present in discoveries earlier than California legalized pot for recreational use in 2019.

Onerous medicine, comparable to heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl, are usually smuggled by way of official border crossings from Mexico as a result of their small measurement and lack of odor make them troublesome to detect. However tunnels give smugglers an advantage of being able to carry large loads at lightning velocity.

The tunnel exited america in a nondescript warehouse named “Amistad Park” on a street that's busy with large semitrailers during the day however quiet at night time. On Monday, armed guards watched over a small shaft with a ladder that descended into the tunnel.

After staking out a home that was just lately used to stash drugs, officers began making visitors stops of automobiles that had been there or at a warehouse close to the border, turning up packing containers stuffed with cocaine, in response to a federal felony complaint filed in San Diego.

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

Authorities have found about 15 subtle 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 Nineties and have been used primarily to smuggle multi-ton loads of marijuana. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration mentioned 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 working.

“There isn't a more light on the end of this narco-tunnel,” said Randy Grossman, U.S. legal professional for the Southern District of California. “We'll take down every subterranean smuggling route we find to keep illicit medicine from reaching our streets and destroying our households and communities.”

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

___=

Related Press writer Eugene Johnson in Seattle contributed.