Large cross-border tunnel found linking Tijuana, San Diego

SAN DIEGO (AP) — U.S. authorities on Monday announced the discovery of a significant drug smuggling tunnel — running in regards to the size of a six soccer fields — from Mexico to a warehouse in an industrial area in the U.S.

The key passage from Tijuana to San Diego featured rail and air flow systems, electricity and reinforced partitions, authorities said. It was discovered near San Diego’s Otay Mesa border crossing in an area where more than a dozen other subtle tunnels have been discovered in the final 20 years.

U.S. authorities mentioned it was unknown how long the tunnel had been operating and what amount of medicine, if any, obtained via undetected. They seized 1,762 pounds (799 kg) of cocaine, 165 pounds (75 kg) of meth and 3.5 pounds (1.6 kg) of heroin in connection with the investigation.

Six individuals, ages 31 to 55, have 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. While considered effective against small, crudely constructed tunnels referred to as “gopher holes,” walls are no 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 ft (1.2 m) in diameter and about six tales deep.

The type of drugs seized may sign a shift from the multi-ton a great deal of marijuana that were typically present in discoveries before California legalized pot for leisure use in 2019.

Exhausting drugs, such as heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl, are usually smuggled via 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 United States in a nondescript warehouse named “Amistad Park” on a avenue that's busy with massive semitrailers throughout the day however quiet at night time. 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 medication, officers started making traffic stops of automobiles that had been there or at a warehouse near the border, turning up boxes stuffed with cocaine, in line with a federal criminal criticism filed in San Diego.

They raided the properties — finding no different drugs on the warehouse, but a tunnel opening carved into the cement floor, federal prosecutors said.

Authorities have found about 15 refined tunnels on California’s border with Mexico since 2006.

Many tunnels, together with 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 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 generally present in California and Arizona and related to Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel.

Authorities declined to hyperlink the most recent tunnel to any particular cartel. They claimed victory regardless of not knowing how long it had been operating.

“There is no such thing as a extra light on the end of this narco-tunnel,” mentioned Randy Grossman, U.S. legal professional for the Southern District of California. “We will take down each subterranean smuggling route we discover to maintain illicit drugs from reaching our streets and destroying our households and communities.”

By federal legislation, U.S. authorities should fill the U.S. facet of tunnels with concrete after they are found.

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Related Press author Eugene Johnson in Seattle contributed.