Second drug tunnel found under US-Mexico border
LOS ANGELES, Nov 26, (AFP) - US and Mexican police unearthed a nearly
half-mile long drug tunnel under their border and seized over 20 tons of
marijuana, the second such major drugs bust this month, officials said
Friday.
At least eight people were arrested, including three in the US, in
the joint action against the sophisticated nearly 0.7 kilometer long
tunnel between the Mexican border city of Tijuana and San Diego on the
US side of the border.
“This discovery again shows the cartels’ growing desperation in the
face of beefed up border security and the costly extremes these
organizations are trying,” said investigation chief Miguel Unzueta on
the US side.
The tunnel had two entrances on the US side, some 800 feet apart in
the Otay Mesa industrial complex in southern San Diego, where another
major tunnel was found three weeks ago, said the US Immigration and
Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency.
The newly-discovered tunnel was more sophisticated than the last, and
was equipped with “advanced rail, electrical and ventilation systems,”
ICE said in a statement. US officials said the tunnel was located
Thursday morning after ICE investigators became suspicious about a
tractor trailer parked near an Otay Mesa warehouse.
When the vehicle left they followed it and when stopped nearby some
27,600 pounds of marijuana was found on board — exactly how they
unearthed the tunnel earlier this month.
The other end of the tunnel “emerged in Tijuana, Mexico, inside a
stucco residence outfitted with a garage large enough to accommodate
deliveries by tractor trailer truck,” it added. US officials contacted
the Mexican military, who discovered four tons of marijuana on a nearby
ranch, while 6,000 pounds of pot were then discovered in the tunnel
itself, said the ICE statement.
The tunnel was some 12 meters (yards) deep and passed under a
business and a road leading to the border, said a Mexican army official.
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