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Federal authorities have revealed a roughly half a mile tunnel connecting a home within the Nueva Tijuana area with a commercial warehouse across the San Diego County border.
US and Mexican authorities say they believe the passageway was dug to transport large-scale contraband.
Authorities say the tunnel was 42 inches tall and 28 inches wide and was equipped with electrical wiring, lighting, ventilation and truck systems.
The tunnel provided by the tunnel ended Monday when Border Patrol agents closed the construction site with the support of border and Mexican authorities.
“As we continue to strengthen our country’s air and strengthen maritime border security, it is no surprise that foreign terrorist organizations will rely on underground routes,” said Jeffrey D. Starnaker, the San Diego Sector’s chief patrol agent, in a statement. “The drug disruption that smuggles tunnels is important to protecting American life.”
Agents from the San Diego Tunnel Team’s Border Patrol were actively under construction in April, but did not reveal the point of origin until this week, and discovered the tunnel.
They mapped the tunnel and documented it being 2,918 feet long.
The tunnel was thought to have run under the boundary of the Otay Mesa and exited in a commercial warehouse.
As agents were about to discover the starting point for the tunnel, they encountered a barricade placed by workers to block law enforcement.
The entrance was eventually discovered in Nueva Tijuana, a neighbourhood just a few blocks from the US border.
According to a post by Omar Hamido Garcia Halfucci, Mexican federal and state officials in Baja California have executed search warrants “for crimes against the health of our citizens.”
According to the border patrol, the tunnel entrance was hidden under the recently placed tiles.
A Mexican security cabinet confirmed that a package containing methamphetamine was seized inside the tunnel.
“We are grateful not only for the cooperation of Mexican law enforcement partners, but also for the exceptional work of our at-risk tunnel team agents,” Starnaker said.
Contractors are expected to pour thousands of gallons of concrete into the tunnel to prevent future use.
In 2022, authorities discovered a similar tunnel, about 1,750 feet long, 60 feet deep and 4 feet in diameter, under Otay Mesa.
Six people were eventually charged with conspiracy to distribute almost a ton of cocaine.
Since 1993, more than 95 tunnels have been discovered and decommissioned in the San Diego area, according to the Border Patrol.
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