Large 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 — operating in regards to the length of a six football 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 methods, electricity and strengthened walls, authorities stated. It was discovered close to San Diego’s Otay Mesa border crossing in an area the place greater than a dozen different refined tunnels have been found within the final twenty years.

U.S. authorities mentioned it was unknown how lengthy the tunnel had been operating and what amount of drugs, if any, bought by means of 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 connection with the investigation.

Six folks, ages 31 to 55, were 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 limitations of border walls. Whereas considered effective towards small, crudely built tunnels called “gopher holes,” walls are not any match for extra refined passages that run deeper underground.

The most recent passage, found Friday, ran one-third of a mile (532 m) to Tijuana. It was 4 feet (1.2 m) in diameter and about six tales deep.

The kind of drugs seized could signal a shift from the multi-ton loads of marijuana that were usually present in discoveries earlier than California legalized pot for leisure use in 2019.

Hard medication, resembling heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl, are sometimes smuggled through official border crossings from Mexico because their small size and lack of odor make them tough to detect. However tunnels give smugglers a bonus of being able to carry big loads at lightning velocity.

The tunnel exited the USA in a nondescript warehouse named “Amistad Park” on a avenue that is busy with large semitrailers during 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 recently used to stash drugs, officials began making traffic stops of vehicles that had been there or at a warehouse close to the border, turning up packing containers stuffed with cocaine, in response to a federal prison grievance filed in San Diego.

They raided the properties — finding no other medication on the warehouse, however a tunnel opening carved into the cement ground, federal prosecutors stated.

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

Many tunnels, including the one announced 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 Nineteen Nineties and have been used primarily to smuggle multi-ton a great deal of marijuana. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said in 2020 that they are usually present in California and Arizona and associated with Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel.

Authorities declined to link the most recent tunnel to any specific cartel. They claimed victory regardless of not realizing how lengthy it had been operating.

“There isn't any more gentle on the finish 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 maintain illicit drugs 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 are found.

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Associated Press writer Eugene Johnson in Seattle contributed.