‘Ingenious’ 800-metre tunnel discovered under US-Mexico border; eight tonnes of drugs seized

US authorities said Wednesday that they discovered a cross-border tunnel that ran almost 800 metres from a Tijuana house equipped with a large elevator to a lot in San Diego, resulting in seizures of more than a tonne of cocaine and seven tonnes of marijuana.

It was the 13th sophisticated secret passage found along California’s border with Mexico since 2006, including three on the same short street in San Diego that runs parallel to a border fence with a densely populated residential area on the Mexican side. The unusually narrow tunnel was only about one metre wide, but was equipped with a rail system, lighting and ventilation.

The tunnel was unusual because it was used for cocaine, not just marijuana, said Laura Duffy, US attorney for the Southern District of California. Tunnels are often built for marijuana because its bulk and odour make it more difficult to escape border inspectors’ scrutiny than cocaine and other drugs.

The elevator, which was big enough for eight to 10 people, was located in the closet of a Tijuana house whose floors were strewn with mattresses, Duffy said. The tunnel zig-zagged for 787 metres to the fenced commercial lot in San Diego, where the exit was covered by a large trash bin. The site was advertised as a wooden pallet business.

Other tunnels that have ended in California were inside houses and warehouses.

“It’s a rabbit hole,” Duffy told reporters. “Just the whole way that it comes up and that it comes up out right into the open, it is a bit ingenious, I think, and it’s something completely different than what we’ve seen.”