Large cross-border tunnel found linking Tijuana, San Diego

SAN DIEGO (AP) — U.S. authorities on Monday introduced the invention of a major drug smuggling tunnel — working concerning the size of a six football 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 programs, electricity and strengthened walls, authorities stated. It was found near San Diego’s Otay Mesa border crossing in an space the place greater than a dozen different sophisticated tunnels have been discovered in the final two decades.

U.S. authorities mentioned it was unknown how long the tunnel had been working and what quantity of medication, if any, got via undetected. They seized 1,762 kilos (799 kg) of cocaine, 165 pounds (75 kg) of meth and three.5 kilos (1.6 kg) of heroin in reference to 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 partitions. Whereas considered effective in opposition to small, crudely built tunnels known as “gopher holes,” partitions aren't any 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 feet (1.2 m) in diameter and about six tales deep.

The type of medicine seized might signal a shift from the multi-ton loads of marijuana that were often present in discoveries before California legalized pot for recreational use in 2019.

Onerous medicine, similar to heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl, are usually smuggled by official border crossings from Mexico as a result of their small size and lack of odor make them troublesome to detect. However tunnels give smugglers a bonus of having the ability 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 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 not too long ago used to stash medication, officers started making visitors stops of vehicles that had been there or at a warehouse near the border, turning up containers stuffed with cocaine, in response to a federal prison complaint filed in San Diego.

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

Authorities have found about 15 sophisticated 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 loads of marijuana. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration mentioned in 2020 that they are usually found in California and Arizona and related to Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel.

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

“There isn't any extra gentle at the finish of this narco-tunnel,” stated Randy Grossman, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California. “We will take down every subterranean smuggling route we find to keep illicit medication 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're found.

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Associated Press writer Eugene Johnson in Seattle contributed.