Large cross-border tunnel found linking Tijuana, San Diego

SAN DIEGO (AP) — U.S. authorities on Monday introduced the discovery of a significant drug smuggling tunnel — running in regards to the length of a six soccer 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 ventilation programs, electrical energy and bolstered walls, authorities said. It was found close to San Diego’s Otay Mesa border crossing in an space where more than a dozen other subtle tunnels have been discovered in the last twenty years.

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

Six people, 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 restrictions of border partitions. While considered effective against small, crudely built tunnels known as “gopher holes,” walls are not any match for more subtle passages that run deeper underground.

The newest 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 medicine seized could signal a shift from the multi-ton loads of marijuana that had been often found in discoveries earlier than California legalized pot for leisure use in 2019.

Hard drugs, akin to heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl, are usually smuggled through official border crossings from Mexico as a result of their small dimension and lack of odor make them difficult to detect. However tunnels give smugglers an advantage of being able to carry big masses at lightning pace.

The tunnel exited the US in a nondescript warehouse named “Amistad Park” on a avenue that's busy with giant semitrailers in the course of 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 lately used to stash drugs, officials started making site visitors stops of vehicles that had been there or at a warehouse close to the border, turning up packing containers filled with cocaine, in accordance with a federal prison complaint filed in San Diego.

They raided the properties — finding no different 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, together with 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 1990s and have been used primarily to smuggle multi-ton a great deal of marijuana. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration mentioned in 2020 that they're typically present in California and Arizona and associated with Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel.

Authorities declined to hyperlink the newest tunnel to any specific cartel. They claimed victory despite not realizing how lengthy it had been operating.

“There isn't a more light at the finish of this narco-tunnel,” said Randy Grossman, U.S. legal professional for the Southern District of California. “We'll take down each subterranean smuggling route we find to keep 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're found.

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Associated Press writer Eugene Johnson in Seattle contributed.