The passage was excavated about six stories underground. In addition to cocaine, 74 kilos of methamphetamine and around 2 kilos of heroin were seized.
Recently, a tunnel was discovered about 500 meters below the USMexico border. It had a rail system, electricity and a ventilation system, federal authorities said Monday as they announced drug offenses against six people in California, United States.
According to a Justice Department statement, the passage was discovered early Friday (13th) by a task force led by investigators from the US Department of Homeland Security who had been guarding a suspected drug house in National City, south of San Diego.
Police followed a person from the home to a warehouse in the Otay Mesa neighborhood of San Diego, about 100 yards north of the Mexico border.
The tunnel exit was found on the floor of a warehouse. (Image from the Southern California Attorney General’s Office)
The man was arrested along with several others after authorities found drugs in their vehicles, the Justice Department said in a criminal complaint.
Searching the camp, authorities found an “ingenious exit point from the crossborder tunnel dug into the cement floor”.
The tunnel stretches approximately 500 meters from Tijuana, Mexico, to the camp in Otay Mesa. It is 18 meters deep and 1.2 meters in diameter. The builders also reinforced the walls.
The tunnel was six stories underground and passed under the border fence. (Image from the Southern California Attorney General’s Office)
“There’s no light at the end of this drug trafficking tunnel,” said US Attorney Randy Grossman. “We will eliminate any underground smuggling routes we can find to prevent illegal drugs from reaching our streets and destroying our families and communities.”
The Justice Department said this is the 90th discovery of a tunnel in Southern California since 1993 and the first since March 2020 (which also landed at an Otay Mesa warehouse). 27 of these tunnels were considered “challenging”.
Six people from Southern California have been charged with conspiring to distribute 800kg of cocaine, the statement said. Two defendants are also charged with dealing in heroin and methamphetamine.
In addition to cocaine, authorities seized 74 kilos of methamphetamine and around 2 kilos of heroin.
* CNN’s Elizabeth Joseph contributed to this report.