US agents find major Mexico drug in California

US agents have uncovered a narrow cross-border tunnel complete with rail system that was used to transport tonnes of cocaine and marijuana from Mexico to an exit covered by a trash bin in California.

US authorities said on Wednesday the tunnel that ran 800 metres (874 yards) from a house in Tijuana was equipped with a large elevator to a lot in San Diego which was advertised as a wooden pallet business. The discovery resulted in the seizure of more than a tonne of cocaine and seven tonnes of marijuana, The Guardian reported.

It was the 13th sophisticated secret passage found along California’s border withMexico 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 (3ft) wide, 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 800 metres (874 yards) to the fenced commercial lot in San Diego, where the exit was covered by a large trash bin.

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.”

Investigators didn’t know when the tunnel was completed. Margarita Ontiveros, who works at a law office next to the San Diego lot, said the tenants arrived about a year ago and often bought and sold wooden pallet.

“They loaded and unloaded a lot of pallets,” Ontiveros said. “They sold very cheap.”

Investigators began to monitor the lot daily in autumn last year after Border Patrol agents assigned to the area saw heavy traffic and grew suspicious, said Duffy. The prosecutor said she was “fairly confident” the first drug load was sent earlier this month but didn’t rule out the possibility that some got through undetected.

Six people were arrested in San Diego on Friday on drug- and tunnel-related crimes, including one US citizen, two Cubans and three Mexicans, Duffy said.

Authorities saw a trash bin forklifted on to a truck at the San Diego lot on 13 April and followed it to a parking lot, a US immigration and customs investigator said in a criminal complaint. Two days later, San Diego County sheriff’s deputies stopped a truck after it left the parking lot, seizing 1,000kg (2,240lbs) of cocaine and 5,000kg (11,030lbs) of marijuana.

Marijuana found in the tunnel and trash bin brought the total haul to more than seven tonnes, authorities said.

The discovery demonstrates the enduring appeal of tunnels to smugglers, despite the significant time and money required to build one. Dozens have been found along the US-Mexico border in recent years, mostly in California and Arizona. Many are found incomplete.

The San Diego-Tijuana region is popular because its clay-like soil is relatively easy to dig with shovels and pneumatic tools, and both sides of the border have warehouses that provide cover for trucks and heavy equipment.