A drug smuggling "super-tunnel" has been discovered by US officials linking Tijuana in Mexico to San Diego. It is one of the most sophisticated secret passages ever found along the US-Mexico border and "would have cost millions of dollars to complete".
Authorities seized 8.5 tonnes of marijuana and 327lbs of cocaine during the raid. Three men were also arrested.
The entrance to the super-tunnel
The tunnel, linking warehouses in Tijuana and San Diego's Otay Mesa industrial area, was equipped with lighting, ventilation and an electric rail system.
"They've worked very hard over a year, maybe two years to build a tunnel of this sophistication. It's taken hundreds of thousands of man hours and millions of dollars to complete" said Bill Sherman of the Drugs Enforcement Administration (DEA).
The super-tunnel had a sophisticated, high tech railway
Federal agents had the San Diego warehouse under surveillance after being tipped off by an informant who told them operators bought drills and other construction equipment in August and September.
"This complex underground passageway zig-zags for about a third of a mile under the border at a depth of approximately 35ft on average," said Derek Benner of US Immigration and Customs. The passageway is four feet in height, it's approximately three-feet wide".
US Attorney Laura Duffy described the tunnel as sophisticated and said they were probably built by engineers and architects. "They are hi-tech, they include railways, push carts, ventilation systems, and hydraulically-controlled steel doors" she said.
A mass drugs haul was also seized
The tunnel is the eighth major passage discovered in San Diego since 2006, a period during which Mexico's Sinaloa cartel has solidified its hold on the prized smuggling corridor.
Some of the largest tunnels have been discovered after central Mexico's marijuana harvest in October, which presents drug cartels with a challenge of how to quickly get their product to consumers.
In November 2011, authorities found a 1,800 foot tunnel that resulted in seizures of 32 tonnes of marijuana on both sides of the border, with 26 tonnes found on the US side - one of the largest seizures in US history.
