A recently discovered tunnel about 500 meters under the U.S.-Mexico border has a rail system, electricity and a ventilation system, federal officials said Monday as they announced drug charges against six people in California, USA.
The passage was discovered Friday by a task force led by investigators from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security who were keeping an eye on an alleged drug trade at a home in National City, south of San Diego, according to a statement from the Department of Justice.
Police followed a person from the house to a warehouse in the Otay Mesa neighborhood of San Diego, about 100 meters north of the Mexican border.
That person, along with several others, was arrested after authorities found drugs in their vehicles, the Justice Department said in a criminal complaint.
While searching the warehouse, authorities found a “sophisticated cross-border tunnel exit point carved into the cement floor”.
The tunnel extends from Tijuana, Mexico, for about 500 meters to the warehouse in Otay Mesa. It is 18 meters deep and 1.2 meters in diameter. The builders even reinforced the walls.
“There is no more light at the end of this drug trafficking tunnel,” said US Attorney Randy Grossman. “We will take down any underground smuggling routes we find to stop illicit drugs from reaching our streets and destroying our families and communities.”
The Justice Department said this is the 90th tunnel discovery in Southern California since 1993 and the first since March 2020 (which also ended up in an Otay Mesa warehouse). The longest tunnel – 1.3 km – was discovered in January 2020. Of these passages, 27 were considered “sophisticated”.
Six people living in Southern California were charged with conspiring to distribute nearly 800 kg of cocaine, the statement added. Two defendants are also charged with trafficking heroin and methamphetamine. In addition to cocaine, 164 kilograms of methamphetamine and 3.5 kilograms of heroin were seized by authorities.
Elizabeth Joseph of CNN contributed to this story.
Source: CNN Brasil
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