U.S. authorities on Monday announced the discovery of a major drug smuggling tunnel on Mexico's border, running the length of a football field on U.S. soil to a warehouse in an industrial area.
The secret passage from Tijuana to San Diego featured rail and ventilation systems, electricity and reinforced walls, authorities said. It was discovered near San Diego's Otay Mesa border crossing in an area where more than a dozen other sophisticated tunnels have been found in the last two decades.
The tunnel is in one of the most fortified stretches of the border, illustrating the limitations of former President Donald Trump's border wall. While considered effective against small, crudely built tunnels called"gopher holes," walls are no match for more sophisticated passages that run deeper underground.
Hard drugs, like heroin, methamphetamine and fentanyl, are typically smuggled through official border crossings from Mexico because their small size and lack of odor make them difficult to detect. But tunnels give smugglers an advantage of being able to carry huge loads at lightning speed. They raided the properties — finding no other drugs at the warehouse, but a tunnel opening carved into the cement floor, federal prosecutors said.Many tunnels, including the one announced Monday, are in San Diego's Otay Mesa industrial area, where clay-like soil is conducive to digging and warehouses provide cover.
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