Massive cross-border tunnel discovered linking Tijuana, San Diego

SAN DIEGO (AP) — U.S. authorities on Monday introduced the invention of a serious drug smuggling tunnel — running concerning the length of a six soccer fields — from Mexico to a warehouse in an industrial area within the U.S.

The secret passage from Tijuana to San Diego featured rail and air flow systems, electrical energy and bolstered walls, authorities mentioned. It was discovered near San Diego’s Otay Mesa border crossing in an area where greater than a dozen different refined tunnels have been discovered within the last twenty years.

U.S. authorities stated it was unknown how long the tunnel had been operating and what quantity of medication, if any, bought through undetected. They seized 1,762 kilos (799 kg) of cocaine, 165 kilos (75 kg) of meth and three.5 pounds (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 limitations of border partitions. While thought of efficient towards small, crudely constructed tunnels called “gopher holes,” walls are not any match for more 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 tales deep.

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

Hard medicine, corresponding to heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl, are typically smuggled via official border crossings from Mexico because their small dimension and lack of odor make them difficult to detect. But tunnels give smugglers an advantage of with the ability to carry huge hundreds at lightning velocity.

The tunnel exited the US in a nondescript warehouse named “Amistad Park” on a road that is busy with large semitrailers during the day but 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 just lately used to stash medicine, officials started making traffic stops of vehicles that had been there or at a warehouse close to the border, turning up containers stuffed with cocaine, in response to a federal criminal criticism filed in San Diego.

They raided the properties — discovering no other medicine at the warehouse, however a tunnel opening carved into the cement floor, federal prosecutors said.

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

Many tunnels, together with the one announced Monday, are in San Diego’s Otay Mesa industrial space, the place clay-like soil is conducive to digging and warehouses present cowl.

The cross-border passages date back to the early Nineties 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 are typically 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 figuring out how long it had been operating.

“There is no extra gentle at the finish of this narco-tunnel,” mentioned Randy Grossman, U.S. legal professional for the Southern District of California. “We will take down each subterranean smuggling route we find to maintain illicit medicine 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're found.

___=

Related Press writer Eugene Johnson in Seattle contributed.