Big cross-border tunnel discovered linking Tijuana, San Diego

SAN DIEGO (AP) — U.S. authorities on Monday introduced the discovery of a significant drug smuggling tunnel — operating about the size of a six football fields — from Mexico to a warehouse in an industrial space within the U.S.

The secret passage from Tijuana to San Diego featured rail and ventilation techniques, electricity and bolstered partitions, authorities stated. It was found close to San Diego’s Otay Mesa border crossing in an space where greater than a dozen different sophisticated tunnels have been discovered in the last 20 years.

U.S. authorities stated it was unknown how lengthy the tunnel had been working and what amount of drugs, if any, received by means of undetected. They seized 1,762 kilos (799 kg) of cocaine, 165 pounds (75 kg) of meth and three.5 pounds (1.6 kg) of heroin in connection with the investigation.

Six people, 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 limitations of border walls. While thought of efficient against small, crudely constructed tunnels known as “gopher holes,” walls aren't any match for more subtle passages that run deeper underground.

The most recent passage, discovered 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 kind of drugs seized might sign a shift from the multi-ton loads of marijuana that have been usually present in discoveries before California legalized pot for recreational use in 2019.

Onerous medicine, corresponding to heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl, are usually smuggled by way of official border crossings from Mexico as a result of their small size and lack of odor make them tough to detect. But tunnels give smugglers an advantage of having the ability to carry huge hundreds at lightning speed.

The tunnel exited america in a nondescript warehouse named “Amistad Park” on a avenue that's busy with large semitrailers throughout the day however 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 medicine, officials started making site visitors stops of autos that had been there or at a warehouse near the border, turning up packing containers full of cocaine, based on a federal felony criticism 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 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, the place clay-like soil is conducive to digging and warehouses present cowl.

The cross-border passages date again to the early Nineties and have been used primarily to smuggle multi-ton loads of marijuana. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said in 2020 that they're generally found in California and Arizona and associated with Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel.

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

“There is no such thing as a more light on the finish of this narco-tunnel,” said Randy Grossman, U.S. legal professional for the Southern District of California. “We'll take down every subterranean smuggling route we find to keep illicit medicine from reaching our streets and destroying our households and communities.”

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

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Associated Press author Eugene Johnson in Seattle contributed.