In an intriguing discovery, authorities in Mexico have uncovered a sophisticated cross-border tunnel in Tijuana, believed to have been utilized to smuggle massive quantities of drugs into the United States. Some of these narcotics were likely destined for the Midwest, including Chicago and its environs.
This elaborate tunnel, equipped with its own rail system, stretched an impressive 1,900 feet—equivalent to the length of more than five football fields.
Originating in Tijuana, the tunnel extended to a familiar street in San Diego, according to law enforcement officials. In addition to the tunnel, authorities seized over a metric ton of drugs.
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“The effort involved in constructing such a tunnel is astounding,” remarked Mike Gannon, a former deputy special agent with the Chicago DEA. “But that’s the reality; traffickers exploit any weakness they find.”
Gannon shared with the ABC7 I-Team that among the 851 packages of cocaine confiscated, some were certainly part of a drug distribution network serving the Chicago area.
“Once that ton of cocaine hits the streets, it undoubtedly spreads across the United States, and it’s a given that a portion is headed to the Chicago region and the broader Midwest,” Gannon explained.
More than 2,000 pounds of cocaine were recovered with a street value of $45 million according to authorities who claim the ruthless CJNG cartel was behind the subterranean connection to a storefront in San Diego. Four people are charged in connection to the seizures.
“Cocaine is now the lifeblood of the cartels. And what you see here today is a cardiac arrest for their system,” proclaimed Adam Gordon, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California.
The tunnel itself is as deep as 21 feet in some directions with infrastructure including lighting, ventilation and an electric rail system. On video, Mexican federal authorities can be seen traversing the inside on the rails. And while this was a mammoth tunnel it’s far from the only one according to authorities.
“Today in San Diego, we’ve discovered 99 tunnels that have been interdicted and dismantled. And with the new technology that we’re deploying as part of our border wall system, we now have the ability to detect these tunnels working with our partners,” explained Justin De La Torre with U.S. Border Patrol San Diego.
In 2015 another Tijuana to San Diego pipeline was discovered it too was described as a cartel supertunnel that DEA agents told the I-Team fed the Chicago market. Twelve tons of marijuana were seized when it was shut down.
Cartels appear to have an affinity for underground operations. Sinaloa’s notorious kingpin El Chapo escaped a Mexican prison by tunnel in 2015. His operatives are skilled tunnel engineers and builders.
Gannon told the I-Team the tunnel discovery and the massive drug seizure is an impressive and crushing blow to cartel’s drug trade. He said, “They utilize those people to help their distribution routes and smuggling routes in ways to try to avoid detection for law enforcement, so that’s the cat mouse game.
DEA officials and Gannon telling the I-Team the designation of cartels as narcoterrorist organizations has been a game changer in surveillance and intelligence sharing between U.S. and Mexican authorities.
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