Big 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 about the size of a six soccer fields — from Mexico to a warehouse in an industrial area in the U.S.

The secret passage from Tijuana to San Diego featured rail and ventilation methods, electricity and bolstered partitions, authorities said. It was discovered near San Diego’s Otay Mesa border crossing in an space the place more than a dozen other refined tunnels have been found within the last two decades.

U.S. authorities stated it was unknown how long the tunnel had been working and what amount of medication, if any, obtained via undetected. They seized 1,762 pounds (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 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 partitions. While thought of effective against small, crudely constructed tunnels known as “gopher holes,” partitions are no match for more sophisticated 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 stories deep.

The kind of medicine seized might sign 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.

Onerous medication, similar to heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl, are usually smuggled by official border crossings from Mexico as a result of their small measurement and lack of odor make them troublesome to detect. But tunnels give smugglers a bonus of being able to carry large hundreds at lightning speed.

The tunnel exited america in a nondescript warehouse named “Amistad Park” on a street that's busy with large semitrailers through 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 house that was not too long ago used to stash medication, officers began making visitors stops of vehicles that had been there or at a warehouse close to the border, turning up containers full of cocaine, based on a federal felony criticism filed in San Diego.

They raided the properties — finding no other medicine on the warehouse, but a tunnel opening carved into the cement floor, federal prosecutors stated.

Authorities have discovered about 15 sophisticated 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 cover.

The cross-border passages date back to the early Nineteen Nineties and have been used primarily to smuggle multi-ton loads of marijuana. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said in 2020 that they're usually found in California and Arizona and associated with Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel.

Authorities declined to hyperlink the latest tunnel to any specific cartel. They claimed victory regardless of not figuring out how lengthy it had been working.

“There is no more mild on the end of this narco-tunnel,” said Randy Grossman, U.S. legal professional for the Southern District of California. “We will take down every subterranean smuggling route we find to keep illicit drugs from reaching our streets and destroying our households and communities.”

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

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Related Press author Eugene Johnson in Seattle contributed.