Tunnel for Smuggling Found Under U.S.-Mexico Border; Tons of Drugs Seized

A tunnel under the United States-Mexico border equipped with electricity, ventilation and an electronic rail system was shut down by federal authorities in San Diego. Marijuana and cocaine were confiscated, and three people were taken into custody. (Immigration and Customs Enforcement, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images)

By LIAM DILLON and IAN LOVETT, NYT
Published: October 31, 2013

SAN DIEGO — A deep tunnel snaking nearly 600 yards from Mexico under the border and into a San Diego warehouse is one of the most sophisticated underground drug smuggling passageways ever discovered, complete with electricity, ventilation and an electronic rail system, federal authorities said Thursday.

The tunnel, which was shut down Wednesday night after several weeks of surveillance, took about a year to build, the authorities said. Three people were taken into custody, and federal agents seized eight tons of marijuana and 325 pounds of cocaine they said was connected to the investigation.

As security at the border — both at the ports of entry and between them — has heightened in recent years, drug cartels have increasingly sought other avenues, including tunnels, maritime smuggling and ultralight aircraft, to move drugs into the United States. This was the fifth large-scale drug smuggling tunnel discovered in the San Diego area since 2010, the authorities said, and the eighth since 2006, when the Sinaloa drug cartel took firm control of the smuggling corridor along this section of the border.

(More here.)