Alleged underground drug tunnel discovered in San Diego
A newly discovered tunnel linking Tijuana to San Diego was likely used to move drugs, weapons and migrants across the U.S.-Mexico border, authorities said. Investigators reported seizing an estimated $45 million worth of narcotics tied to the operation.
In a separate major border seizure, federal officials found more than 1,000 pounds of cocaine concealed beneath the floorboards of a commercial truck entering the United States from Mexico, making it one of Southern California’s largest drug busts of the year.
According to the Department of Justice, inspectors discovered the cocaine inside the floorboards of a commercial truck and flatbed trailer at the Calexico Port of Entry, a key crossing between California and Mexico. Prosecutors said the shipment has an estimated street value of more than $20 million.
Federal prosecutors described the seizure as the second-largest cocaine bust recorded this year in the Southern District of California.
FEDERAL AGENTS SEIZE $6.4 MILLION IN COCAINE FROM OIL TANKER AT PORT OF LOS ANGELES, ARREST SUSPECTED CARTEL SMUGGLER
Federal authorities seized more than 1,000 pounds of cocaine, valued at over $20 million, during an inspection at California’s Calexico Port of Entry. (Department of Justice)
The truck’s only occupant, 44-year-old Jose Manuel Lopez, a Mexican national, was taken into custody and charged with importing cocaine into the United States.
If found guilty, Lopez faces at least 10 years in federal prison, with a possible maximum sentence of life behind bars.
In court filings seeking to keep Lopez in custody, prosecutors described the seizure as “a tremendous amount of drugs, even by the standards of this district.”
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Authorities removed the wooden floorboards of a commercial trailer after discovering more than 1,000 pounds of cocaine hidden underneath, prosecutors said. (Department of Justice)
The only larger cocaine seizure in the Southern District of California this year came in May, when authorities uncovered more than a ton of cocaine worth an estimated $45 million linked to an alleged cross-border drug tunnel.
Officials said the trailer was carrying 269 bundles of rebar when U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers, working alongside Homeland Security Investigations and the Drug Enforcement Administration, detected anomalies during an X-ray inspection.
Federal investigators uncovered hundreds of packages of cocaine hidden beneath the floorboards of a commercial trailer at the Calexico Port of Entry, prosecutors said. (Department of Justice)
After a narcotics detection dog alerted officers the trailer, they unloaded the rebar and removed the wooden floorboards, where they discovered 366 packages of cocaine weighing more than 1,000 pounds, or approximately 454 kilograms, prosecutors said.
Lopez pleaded not guilty during his initial appearance in federal court Tuesday. A detention hearing is scheduled for Aug. 3.
