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 — running in regards to the length 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 systems, electricity and strengthened walls, authorities said. It was discovered near San Diego’s Otay Mesa border crossing in an area the place more than a dozen different refined tunnels have been found within the last 20 years.

U.S. authorities stated it was unknown how lengthy the tunnel had been working and what quantity of drugs, if any, got by undetected. They seized 1,762 pounds (799 kg) of cocaine, 165 kilos (75 kg) of meth and 3.5 kilos (1.6 kg) of heroin in reference to the investigation.

Six individuals, ages 31 to 55, had 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 restrictions of border partitions. Whereas considered efficient against small, crudely constructed tunnels known as “gopher holes,” partitions are no match for more subtle passages that run deeper underground.

The latest passage, discovered 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 medication seized may signal a shift from the multi-ton loads of marijuana that were often found in discoveries earlier than California legalized pot for leisure use in 2019.

Hard drugs, corresponding to heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl, are typically smuggled by official border crossings from Mexico because their small measurement and lack of odor make them difficult to detect. However tunnels give smugglers an advantage of being able to carry big hundreds at lightning pace.

The tunnel exited america in a nondescript warehouse named “Amistad Park” on a road that is busy with giant 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 recently used to stash drugs, officers began making visitors stops of vehicles that had been there or at a warehouse near the border, turning up containers filled with cocaine, according to a federal felony grievance filed in San Diego.

They raided the properties — discovering no other medicine at the warehouse, but a tunnel opening carved into the cement ground, federal prosecutors mentioned.

Authorities have found about 15 refined 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 present cowl.

The cross-border passages date again to the early Nineties and have been used primarily to smuggle multi-ton loads of marijuana. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration stated in 2020 that they're typically found 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 figuring out how lengthy it had been working.

“There isn't a extra mild on the finish of this narco-tunnel,” mentioned 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 medicine from reaching our streets and destroying our families and communities.”

By federal legislation, U.S. authorities must fill the U.S. facet of tunnels with concrete after they're discovered.

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Related Press writer Eugene Johnson in Seattle contributed.