Huge cross-border tunnel found linking Tijuana, San Diego

SAN DIEGO (AP) — U.S. authorities on Monday introduced the discovery of a major drug smuggling tunnel — working concerning the size of a six football 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 ventilation methods, electricity and bolstered walls, authorities said. It was discovered close to San Diego’s Otay Mesa border crossing in an space the place more than a dozen other subtle tunnels have been discovered within the last twenty years.

U.S. authorities said it was unknown how long the tunnel had been working and what quantity of drugs, if any, obtained 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 connection with 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 most fortified stretches of the border, illustrating the limitations of border partitions. While thought of efficient against small, crudely built tunnels called “gopher holes,” walls are not any match for more sophisticated passages that run deeper underground.

The latest 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 medication seized might sign a shift from the multi-ton loads of marijuana that had been usually found in discoveries before California legalized pot for recreational use in 2019.

Hard medicine, similar to heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl, are usually smuggled by way of official border crossings from Mexico because their small size and lack of odor make them troublesome to detect. However tunnels give smugglers an advantage of with the ability to carry enormous loads at lightning velocity.

The tunnel exited the US in a nondescript warehouse named “Amistad Park” on a road that is busy with large semitrailers throughout the day but 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 drugs, officers began making site visitors stops of autos that had been there or at a warehouse close to the border, turning up packing containers full of cocaine, in response to a federal criminal criticism filed in San Diego.

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

Authorities have found about 15 sophisticated tunnels on California’s border with Mexico since 2006.

Many tunnels, together with the one introduced Monday, are in San Diego’s Otay Mesa industrial area, 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 mentioned in 2020 that they're typically found in California and Arizona and related to Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel.

Authorities declined to hyperlink the newest tunnel to any particular cartel. They claimed victory despite not realizing how long it had been working.

“There is no more gentle 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 discover to maintain illicit medicine from reaching our streets and destroying our households and communities.”

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

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Associated Press author Eugene Johnson in Seattle contributed.