Big cross-border tunnel found linking Tijuana, San Diego

SAN DIEGO (AP) — U.S. authorities on Monday announced the invention of a significant drug smuggling tunnel — running 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 air flow methods, electricity and strengthened walls, authorities mentioned. It was discovered close to San Diego’s Otay Mesa border crossing in an space the place greater than a dozen other subtle tunnels have been discovered within the final two decades.

U.S. authorities said it was unknown how long the tunnel had been operating and what amount of medication, if any, bought by way of undetected. They seized 1,762 kilos (799 kg) of cocaine, 165 kilos (75 kg) of meth and 3.5 kilos (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 fortified stretches of the border, illustrating the restrictions of border walls. While considered effective in opposition to small, crudely constructed tunnels referred to as “gopher holes,” partitions aren't any match for more refined passages that run deeper underground.

The newest 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 type of medication seized might sign a shift from the multi-ton loads of marijuana that had been typically present in discoveries earlier than California legalized pot for leisure use in 2019.

Arduous medicine, corresponding to heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl, are sometimes smuggled by means of official border crossings from Mexico because their small dimension and lack of odor make them troublesome to detect. But tunnels give smugglers a bonus of with the ability to carry huge loads at lightning speed.

The tunnel exited america in a nondescript warehouse named “Amistad Park” on a street that's busy with giant semitrailers in the course of 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 just lately used to stash medicine, officials started making visitors stops of autos that had been there or at a warehouse close to the border, turning up bins filled with cocaine, in response to a federal felony criticism filed in San Diego.

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

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, where clay-like soil is conducive to digging and warehouses present cover.

The cross-border passages date back to the early 1990s and have been used primarily to smuggle multi-ton loads of marijuana. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration stated in 2020 that they are usually found in California and Arizona and associated with Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel.

Authorities declined to link the latest tunnel to any particular cartel. They claimed victory despite not knowing how lengthy it had been operating.

“There isn't a more gentle on the end of this narco-tunnel,” stated Randy Grossman, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California. “We'll take down each subterranean smuggling route we discover to keep illicit drugs from reaching our streets and destroying our households and communities.”

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

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Related Press writer Eugene Johnson in Seattle contributed.