‘Sophisticated’ 1,700-foot-long border drug tunnel unearthed in California, feds say

A shopping trip for cardboard boxes and dollies led investigators to a 1,744-foot-long drug tunnel beneath the U.S.-Mexico border, federal officials reported.

The “sophisticated” 61-foot-deep tunnel had lights, ventilation and tracks for moving shipments of drugs from Tijuana, Mexico, to a warehouse in Otay Mesa, California, a news release by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Southern California said.

Six people face charges of conspiring to distribute 1,762 pounds of cocaine in connection with the tunnel operation, the release said.

Investigators also found 164 pounds of methamphetamine and 3.5 pounds of heroin.

Authorities uncovered the tunnel Friday, May 13, after investigators watching a National City house, which had been busted as a stash house in March, saw several people leaving the home that morning.

Investigators followed them to a Chula Vista store, where they took cardboard boxes from a dumpster and bought several dollies. They later bought more boxes at another store.

They later led investigators to an Otay Mesa warehouse — about 300 feet from the U.S.-Mexico border — where officials discovered one end of the drug tunnel down a hole cut in the cement floor, the release said.

“There is no more light at the end of this narco-tunnel,” said U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman in a statement. “We will take down every subterranean smuggling route we find to keep illicit drugs from reaching our streets and destroying our families and communities.”

Ninety drug tunnels have been found beneath the U.S.-Mexico border in Southern California since 1993, the release said.

This story was originally published May 17, 2022 at 7:53 AM with the headline "‘Sophisticated’ 1,700-foot-long border drug tunnel unearthed in California, feds say."