Large cross-border tunnel discovered linking Tijuana, San Diego

SAN DIEGO (AP) — U.S. authorities on Monday announced the invention of a serious drug smuggling tunnel — working in regards to the size 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 systems, electricity and strengthened partitions, authorities said. It was found near San Diego’s Otay Mesa border crossing in an area the place more than a dozen other refined tunnels have been discovered within the final 20 years.

U.S. authorities mentioned it was unknown how long the tunnel had been working and what quantity of medication, if any, acquired via 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 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 one of the crucial fortified stretches of the border, illustrating the limitations of border partitions. Whereas thought-about efficient against small, crudely constructed tunnels called “gopher holes,” partitions are not any match for more subtle 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 stories deep.

The kind of medicine seized could signal a shift from the multi-ton a great deal of marijuana that were typically found in discoveries before California legalized pot for leisure use in 2019.

Exhausting drugs, such as heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl, are typically smuggled via official border crossings from Mexico as a result of their small size and lack of odor make them troublesome to detect. But tunnels give smugglers an advantage of being able to carry big loads at lightning velocity.

The tunnel exited the United States in a nondescript warehouse named “Amistad Park” on a road that's busy with massive semitrailers in the course of 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 house that was lately used to stash drugs, officials began making site visitors stops of autos that had been there or at a warehouse near the border, turning up containers filled with cocaine, in keeping with a federal legal grievance filed in San Diego.

They raided the properties — finding no different medication at the warehouse, however a tunnel opening carved into the cement ground, federal prosecutors said.

Authorities have found about 15 sophisticated 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 space, the place clay-like soil is conducive to digging and warehouses provide cover.

The cross-border passages date again to the early 1990s and have been used primarily to smuggle multi-ton loads of marijuana. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said in 2020 that they are typically found 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 despite not realizing how long it had been operating.

“There is no such thing as a extra light on the finish of this narco-tunnel,” stated Randy Grossman, U.S. legal professional for the Southern District of California. “We are going to take down every subterranean smuggling route we discover 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. facet of tunnels with concrete after they are found.

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Related Press author Eugene Johnson in Seattle contributed.