The discovery of a drug tunnel linking San Diego and Tijuana warehouses led to the seizure of some 17 tons of cannabis as well as a large grow operation in the industrial area of Otay Mesa east of San Diego, US and Mexican authorities announced Nov. 16. The tunnel’s opening in Tijuana was discovered by soldiers in an industrial construction site near the airport. Mexican authorities alerted their US counterparts, who found the opening in Otay Mesa, where several so-called narco-tunnels have been found in recent years. The seized marijuana bundles were labeled with pictures of Captain America, the symbol used by a major local operator for the Sinaloa Cartel, Mexican military authorities said.
“The drug cartels mistakenly believe they can elude detection by taking their contraband underground, but again and again, we’ve been able to find these tunnels and shut them down,” said Derek Benner, special agent in charge for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which heads a San Diego-based multiagency tunnel drug task force. (El Universal, Nov. 17; LAT, Nov. 16)
See our last posts on Mexico’s narco wars and the struggle for the border.
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Tijuana narcotunnel found with altar to saint of traffickers
A “narcotunnel” discovered July 12 by Mexican army troops on the northeast side of Tijuana, just across the border from San Diego, included a makeshift altar honoring Jesús Malverde, Mexico’s (non-Vatican-recognized) patron saint of narco-traffickers. The alter also had images of the Virgin of Guadalupe and Jesus Christ. A second narco-tunnel was found at a property also located on the northeast side of the city, where 50 tons of marijuana were seized.. Global Ganja Report…
Tijuana ‘super-tunnel’ discovered
US authorities on Oct. 31 announced discovery of a secret 1,760-foot underground tunnel equipped with electricity, ventilation and a rail system used for smuggling drugs between Tijuana and San Diego’s Otay Mesa industrial park. Border Patrol and DEA agents seized more than 17,000 pounds of marijuana and 325 pounds of cocaine from the tunnel, and arrested three men in a night raid. (Daily News, Nov. 1)