Arizona Republic
February 14, 2014
by Daniel Gonzalez
NOGALES, Ariz. — Nogales has been the epicenter for cross-border drug tunnels for years. U.S. authorities have found 100 drug tunnels in that city since 1990, more than any other location along the 2,000-mile United States-Mexico border.
But the tunnel found this week tops them all. At 481 feet, longer than 11/2 football fields, it is the longest ever discovered in Nogales, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.
The tunnel extended from a house in Nogales, Sonora, to a house in Nogales, Ariz., and was being used to smuggle marijuana and other drugs into the U.S., ICE officials said.
Federal authorities found a half pound of heroin and 46 pounds of marijuana inside.
They seized another 590 pounds of marijuana after stopping a vehicle federal agents saw driving away from the house in Nogales, Ariz., on Monday.
The house was under surveillance by a multiagency task force created in 2012 to find and dismantle drug tunnels.
The driver of the truck, Jesus Alberto Ramirez-Valencia, 22, a U.S. citizen from Nogales, Ariz., and two Mexican citizens, Jose Mario Armenta-Valdez, 41, and Jose Solorzano-Flores, 41, were charged with drug conspiracy.
The driver was apparently transporting the drugs to a second house where Solorzano-Flores was found outside, authorities say. Armenta-Valdez was arrested after federal agents raided the house, where an opening to the drug tunnel leading into the U.S. from Mexico was found.
Eric Balliet, assistant special agent in charge of ICE's Homeland Security Investigations in Nogales, said drug smugglers are resorting to tunnels because of tighter border security.
"If a drug-trafficking organization can establish a well-manufactured tunnel, the likelihood of a law-enforcement encounter is somewhat slim," Balliet said. "You don't run the risk of exposing your dope above ground, whether it's human backpackers or smuggling through the port or over the fence. It's completely concealed from start to finish."
The drug tunnel found Monday is the third uncovered in Nogales since December.
Since 1990, 169 tunnels have been found along the southern border, 100 of them in Nogales.
Last fiscal year, six of the seven tunnels found along the U.S.-Mexico border were found in Nogales.
In 2012, seven of the 16 tunnels found on the border were in Nogales, and 12 of the 18 the year before that, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Nogales is popular for drug tunnels because smugglers can tap a vast underground drainage system that connects the border cities, Balliet said.
Once inside the drainage system, smugglers bore spider tunnels into the U.S., he said
The two cities also have large neighborhoods close to each other, making it easy for smugglers to dig tunnels from a house on the Mexican side to a house on the U.S. side, he said.
The tunnel found Monday stretched 70 feet from a house in Nogales, Sonora, to the U.S. border and then another 411 feet to a house in Nogales, Ariz., ICE officials said.
The passageway was roughly 2 feet wide and 3 feet high, and had wood shoring, electric lighting and ventilation fans, ICE officials said.
The tunnel task force includes officers from ICE, the Border Patrol, the Drug Enforcement Administration, Nogales police, and Mexican authorities.
http://www.wbir.com/story/news/nation/2014/02/14/largest-ever-drug-tunnel-in-nogales-found/5484031/
Showing posts with label tunnel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tunnel. Show all posts
Thursday, February 20, 2014
Thursday, July 12, 2012
'Extraordinary' U.S.-Mexico drug tunnel may be Sinaloa cartel's
Los Angeles Times
July 12, 2012
by William C. Rempel
The “fully operational” tunnel is a 755-foot passageway, tall enough for a 6-foot person to walk through, that burrows under the border fence, a park and a water canal. It connects a small, nondescript warehouse on the U.S. side to an inoperative ice manufacturing plant behind a strip club in Mexico.
It is outfitted with lights, fans and a ventilation system. The vertical shafts on both sides of the border descend 57 feet, creating what officials said were significant engineering challenges.
“I would suspect that professional engineers were cooperating with the builders, if not working on site,” said Doug Coleman, special agent in charge of the DEA's Phoenix field office. He said construction might have taken at least a year and cost an estimated $1.5 million to $2 million.
Two couriers were arrested, one of them a U.S. citizen. A third person also has been arrested in a case that Coleman said was “only beginning.” Coleman declined to answer questions about the continuing investigation.
DEA investigators who searched the warehouse found tons of sandy soil stored in dozens of 55-gallon drums. The stored dirt “suggested there must be a tunnel,” Coleman said at a news conference Thursday.
Access to the tunnel was located under a 2,000-gallon water tank that could be moved only with the use of a forklift. Investigators found the vertical shaft lined with 4-by-6-inch wooden planks. The tunnel itself is lined with plywood and reinforced with the same planks. It is about 6 feet 6 high and 4 feet wide.
On the Mexico side, access was found in the ice house, where investigators also found stacks of 200-pound seed bags apparently filled with additional tons of excavated sand and dirt. Entry to the vertical shaft was underwater. Investigators had to drain a large tank to get to it.
Asked to compare the tunnel to nearly 140 others found along the Mexican border with Arizona and California in the past 10 years, Coleman said he had seen nothing like it. “It's an extraordinary piece of engineering,” he said.
The one-story warehouse, part of a strip mall only a few steps from the San Luis border crossing, had been under surveillance by DEA agents for several months as a suspected stash location. The ice house also had been a suspect site in the past, raided at various times in recent years by Mexican drug agents without anything suspicious turning up.
Coleman said that although the people behind the tunnel had yet to be identified, “it's a good guess” that it will be tied to the Sinaloa cartel and people employed by drug boss Joaquin “Chapo” Guzman.
DEA officials said estimates that the tunnel could have cost as much as $2 million were based on initial analysis of the materials used in construction. They speculated that sophisticated underground sensors and directional devices might have been used to assure that the tunnel from the Mexico side actually met the vertical shaft under the San Luis warehouse.
Also found at the warehouse were two vans formerly operated by the U.S. Postal Service, faded remnants of their identifying decals still visible. Investigators believe the cartel intended to disguise some of its drug shipments as U.S. mail.
Jay Crede of Homeland Security Investigations said the tunnel was of obvious concern to his department, but he celebrated its discovery. He called the loss of the tunnel “a blow to … traffickers.”
Another DEA veteran, Coleman aide Chris Feistl, went further. “As drug cases go, we didn't get a whole lot of dope in this seizure,” he said, “but when you think about how much cartel time and effort and money went into this tunnel — we really ruined somebody's day.”
The 39 pounds of methamphetamine has an estimated wholesale value to the cartel of nearly $700,000. Its street value is about five times higher.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-drug-tunnel-details-20120712,0,612829.story
July 12, 2012
by William C. Rempel
SAN LUIS, Ariz. — The powerful Sinaloa drug cartel
is believed to be behind one of the most sophisticated and well-engineered smuggling
tunnels ever found along the U.S.-Mexico border,
according to U.S. drug enforcement officials who announced the discovery
Thursday in Yuma.
The “fully operational” tunnel is a 755-foot passageway, tall enough for a 6-foot person to walk through, that burrows under the border fence, a park and a water canal. It connects a small, nondescript warehouse on the U.S. side to an inoperative ice manufacturing plant behind a strip club in Mexico.
It is outfitted with lights, fans and a ventilation system. The vertical shafts on both sides of the border descend 57 feet, creating what officials said were significant engineering challenges.
“I would suspect that professional engineers were cooperating with the builders, if not working on site,” said Doug Coleman, special agent in charge of the DEA's Phoenix field office. He said construction might have taken at least a year and cost an estimated $1.5 million to $2 million.
It was unclear how much, if any, contraband may
have been smuggled through the recently completed tunnel, but authorities said
its existence was exposed by the seizure last week of a 39-pound load of methamphetamine.
The drugs were found by state police during a traffic stop on the highway
between San Luis and Yuma and then traced back to the warehouse.
Two couriers were arrested, one of them a U.S. citizen. A third person also has been arrested in a case that Coleman said was “only beginning.” Coleman declined to answer questions about the continuing investigation.
DEA investigators who searched the warehouse found tons of sandy soil stored in dozens of 55-gallon drums. The stored dirt “suggested there must be a tunnel,” Coleman said at a news conference Thursday.
Access to the tunnel was located under a 2,000-gallon water tank that could be moved only with the use of a forklift. Investigators found the vertical shaft lined with 4-by-6-inch wooden planks. The tunnel itself is lined with plywood and reinforced with the same planks. It is about 6 feet 6 high and 4 feet wide.
On the Mexico side, access was found in the ice house, where investigators also found stacks of 200-pound seed bags apparently filled with additional tons of excavated sand and dirt. Entry to the vertical shaft was underwater. Investigators had to drain a large tank to get to it.
Asked to compare the tunnel to nearly 140 others found along the Mexican border with Arizona and California in the past 10 years, Coleman said he had seen nothing like it. “It's an extraordinary piece of engineering,” he said.
The one-story warehouse, part of a strip mall only a few steps from the San Luis border crossing, had been under surveillance by DEA agents for several months as a suspected stash location. The ice house also had been a suspect site in the past, raided at various times in recent years by Mexican drug agents without anything suspicious turning up.
Coleman said that although the people behind the tunnel had yet to be identified, “it's a good guess” that it will be tied to the Sinaloa cartel and people employed by drug boss Joaquin “Chapo” Guzman.
DEA officials said estimates that the tunnel could have cost as much as $2 million were based on initial analysis of the materials used in construction. They speculated that sophisticated underground sensors and directional devices might have been used to assure that the tunnel from the Mexico side actually met the vertical shaft under the San Luis warehouse.
Also found at the warehouse were two vans formerly operated by the U.S. Postal Service, faded remnants of their identifying decals still visible. Investigators believe the cartel intended to disguise some of its drug shipments as U.S. mail.
Jay Crede of Homeland Security Investigations said the tunnel was of obvious concern to his department, but he celebrated its discovery. He called the loss of the tunnel “a blow to … traffickers.”
Another DEA veteran, Coleman aide Chris Feistl, went further. “As drug cases go, we didn't get a whole lot of dope in this seizure,” he said, “but when you think about how much cartel time and effort and money went into this tunnel — we really ruined somebody's day.”
The 39 pounds of methamphetamine has an estimated wholesale value to the cartel of nearly $700,000. Its street value is about five times higher.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-drug-tunnel-details-20120712,0,612829.story
Monday, July 9, 2012
Mexico discovers drug tunnel under Arizona border
Associated Press / East Valley Tribune
July 8, 2012
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico's army has uncovered a 755-foot (230-meter) tunnel running under the Sonora-Arizona border that was used to smuggle drugs into the United States.
Mexico's defense secretariat says the tunnel linked a soon-to-be-opened ice and purified water business in San Luis Rio Colorado, Sonora to a business in San Luis, Arizona.
Gen. Raul Guereca said Saturday that the tunnel was 4.25 feet (1.3 meters) high and reached a depth of almost 60 feet (18 meters) below ground. It had electricity, ventilation and small cars to transport the drugs through the tunnel.
Officials did not say which cartel they thought had built the tunnel. As U.S. authorities have tightened land crossings, tunnels have become a popular way for Mexico's cartels to smuggle drugs and people into the U.S.
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/local/cop_shop/article_8b035a00-c942-11e1-be5c-0019bb2963f4.html
July 8, 2012
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico's army has uncovered a 755-foot (230-meter) tunnel running under the Sonora-Arizona border that was used to smuggle drugs into the United States.
Mexico's defense secretariat says the tunnel linked a soon-to-be-opened ice and purified water business in San Luis Rio Colorado, Sonora to a business in San Luis, Arizona.
Gen. Raul Guereca said Saturday that the tunnel was 4.25 feet (1.3 meters) high and reached a depth of almost 60 feet (18 meters) below ground. It had electricity, ventilation and small cars to transport the drugs through the tunnel.
Officials did not say which cartel they thought had built the tunnel. As U.S. authorities have tightened land crossings, tunnels have become a popular way for Mexico's cartels to smuggle drugs and people into the U.S.
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/local/cop_shop/article_8b035a00-c942-11e1-be5c-0019bb2963f4.html
Monday, February 20, 2012
Pot-smuggling tunnels in Tijuana grow more elaborate
McClatchy / Boston Herald
February 20, 2012
by Tim Johnson
TIJUANA, Mexico _ When smuggling goes smoothly for the marijuana division of the huge Sinaloa Cartel, cross-border deliveries unfold with clockwork precision.
Harvested marijuana arrives in plastic-wrapped bales to a depot hidden among the rundown warehouses on the Mexican side of the concrete U.S. border fence.
Once enough marijuana is collected, workers drop the vacuum-packed bales through shafts leading to the ever-more-elaborate tunnels that cross underneath the border through the clay-laden soil.
U.S. agents have been waging war against the tunnels for years, using a range of high-tech devices from ground-penetrating radar to seismic sensors to find and destroy them. But despite the efforts, drug smugglers continue to build the tunnels, often spending $1 million to dig a single pathway equipped with lighting, forced-air ventilation, water pumps, shoring on walls and hydraulic elevators.
Lately, new tunnels have included railways. The bales move on electric mining carts with hand throttles that roll at up to 15 mph.
"A tunnel represents an incursion into the U.S., and it’s a national security event," said Jose M. Garcia, who oversees the federal multi-agency San Diego Tunnel Task Force.
The location of the tunnels helps explain why agents have such difficulty finding them. The area where the most advanced tunnels have been found is adjacent to the Tijuana international airport, where scores of planes take off and land daily. Nearby warehouses buzz with legitimate activity.
"All that noise from the airport is a great advantage to them," said Victor Clark Alfaro, an anthropologist and human rights activist in Tijuana who also lectures at San Diego State University. "This border is perforated like an anthill."
U.S. officials say they have found more than 160 tunnels since 1990 along the 1,954-mile border, mostly in the stretch of Mexico that borders Arizona and California. In the past 15 months, U.S. agents have busted increasingly sophisticated tunnels.
Geography and geology make the intensely urban Tijuana-San Diego corridor ideal for the tunnels. Tijuana is Mexico’s sixth largest city, with 1.3 million people, while San Diego is the eighth largest U.S. city, with several interstate highways. Moreover, soil here has a composition that’s easy to dig.
In a two-week span last November, U.S. agents shut down two sophisticated tunnels that led from an area near Tijuana’s airport to the Otay Mesa industrial park on the U.S. side. Some 49 tons of marijuana were seized. The discoveries marked the second year in a row in which elaborate tunnels were found within a mile of the busy Otay Mesa border crossing.
U.S. officials are sensitive about a public view that they aren’t finding the tunnels.
"Understandably, American citizens react to news stories about the discovery of a large tunnel, complete with plumbing, lights, ventilation and a rudimentary railway system, with a mixture of surprise, indignation, alarm and dismay," Laura E. Duffy, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California, told the Senate drug caucus last June.
"How, they ask, can such a sophisticated illegal structure be constructed right under our noses?"
Part of the difficulty, she said, is that drug traffickers use horizontal drills that cost up to $75,000 and can cut without disturbing topsoil. The tunnels run anywhere from 30 to 90 feet deep, avoiding greater depths, which would hit underground water tables.
Drug traffickers also have been adept at setting up bogus U.S. companies to rent space in bustling Otay Mesa and its 600 warehouses and 12,000 businesses. Many firms are unaware of activities by their neighbors, perhaps noticing only if there’s truck traffic at unusual hours.
Garcia said that even with devices such as seismic sensors, a majority of tunnel busts came from tip-offs by informants or suspicious warehouse operators.
Big tunnels are thought to be the work of the Sinaloa Cartel, which has seized control of Tijuana from the local Arellano-Felix cartel after years of bloody conflict and now is operating in tandem with remnants of the group.
Sinaloa operatives employ mining engineers and architects to help construct their tunnels, while keeping knowledge of locations to as few people as possible.
Experts on the San Diego Tunnel Task Force say "some tunnel excavators in Mexico are killed when the job is done to prevent them from spreading the word on the location," Duffy told senators.
Marijuana growers are turning to ever-larger plantations to meet the capacity of bigger tunnels. Last July, soldiers found a 300-acre screened and irrigated marijuana plantation near San Quintin, 150 miles south of Tijuana, which was four times larger than any such site that had been seized before. Eight months earlier, soldiers seized 148 tons _ 134 metric tons _ of pot in Tijuana, a record.
U.S. and Mexican agents say that tunnel digging, using pneumatic spades, generally is limited to teams of six or seven men. They live at the Tijuana site where the tunnel begins, and excavation is timed to conclude with the harvesting of marijuana crops in late summer and early autumn, so there’s little time for the tunnel to sit idle and be detected.
"The process is tedious," Garcia said, involving working day and night and lugging bags of dirt along the shaft for removal.
But even with million-dollar investments, Garcia said, the tunnel builders "recoup that by making just one trip, given the value of the narcotics we’ve seized."
Most bales of marijuana carry stickers, often fanciful images such as Donald Duck, Captain America, Budweiser or Homer Simpson. The stickers indicate ownership and destination, U.S. agents said.
Tunnel operatives make sure to recoup their investments first.
"The way it works is the tunnel guys build it, so their stuff gets through first. Once it gets through, they start hiring out" to other drug organizations, said Louis Gomez, the supervisor of the San Diego Tunnel Task Force, which includes agents of Customs and Border Protection, the Drug Enforcement Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the California Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement.
Tunnel shafts on the Tijuana side that a McClatchy Newspapers journalist visited included one hidden in the floor of a walk-in freezer in a warehouse that’s only two football fields away from warehouses on the U.S. side of the border.
Another shaft was hidden in a unique fashion: "It was the entire floor of a bathroom that went up and down, and they used a hydraulic lift like you’d see in a service station," Garcia said.
Tijuana Police Chief Alberto Capella Ibarra said the tunnels kept growing in sophistication.
"It speaks of the strength and economic power of the cartels, because these tunnels are a huge investment for them," Capella said.
http://news.bostonherald.com/news/international/americas/view.bg?&articleid=1405102&format=&page=1&listingType=intamer#articleFull
February 20, 2012
by Tim Johnson
TIJUANA, Mexico _ When smuggling goes smoothly for the marijuana division of the huge Sinaloa Cartel, cross-border deliveries unfold with clockwork precision.
Harvested marijuana arrives in plastic-wrapped bales to a depot hidden among the rundown warehouses on the Mexican side of the concrete U.S. border fence.
Once enough marijuana is collected, workers drop the vacuum-packed bales through shafts leading to the ever-more-elaborate tunnels that cross underneath the border through the clay-laden soil.
U.S. agents have been waging war against the tunnels for years, using a range of high-tech devices from ground-penetrating radar to seismic sensors to find and destroy them. But despite the efforts, drug smugglers continue to build the tunnels, often spending $1 million to dig a single pathway equipped with lighting, forced-air ventilation, water pumps, shoring on walls and hydraulic elevators.
Lately, new tunnels have included railways. The bales move on electric mining carts with hand throttles that roll at up to 15 mph.
"A tunnel represents an incursion into the U.S., and it’s a national security event," said Jose M. Garcia, who oversees the federal multi-agency San Diego Tunnel Task Force.
The location of the tunnels helps explain why agents have such difficulty finding them. The area where the most advanced tunnels have been found is adjacent to the Tijuana international airport, where scores of planes take off and land daily. Nearby warehouses buzz with legitimate activity.
"All that noise from the airport is a great advantage to them," said Victor Clark Alfaro, an anthropologist and human rights activist in Tijuana who also lectures at San Diego State University. "This border is perforated like an anthill."
U.S. officials say they have found more than 160 tunnels since 1990 along the 1,954-mile border, mostly in the stretch of Mexico that borders Arizona and California. In the past 15 months, U.S. agents have busted increasingly sophisticated tunnels.
Geography and geology make the intensely urban Tijuana-San Diego corridor ideal for the tunnels. Tijuana is Mexico’s sixth largest city, with 1.3 million people, while San Diego is the eighth largest U.S. city, with several interstate highways. Moreover, soil here has a composition that’s easy to dig.
In a two-week span last November, U.S. agents shut down two sophisticated tunnels that led from an area near Tijuana’s airport to the Otay Mesa industrial park on the U.S. side. Some 49 tons of marijuana were seized. The discoveries marked the second year in a row in which elaborate tunnels were found within a mile of the busy Otay Mesa border crossing.
U.S. officials are sensitive about a public view that they aren’t finding the tunnels.
"Understandably, American citizens react to news stories about the discovery of a large tunnel, complete with plumbing, lights, ventilation and a rudimentary railway system, with a mixture of surprise, indignation, alarm and dismay," Laura E. Duffy, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California, told the Senate drug caucus last June.
"How, they ask, can such a sophisticated illegal structure be constructed right under our noses?"
Part of the difficulty, she said, is that drug traffickers use horizontal drills that cost up to $75,000 and can cut without disturbing topsoil. The tunnels run anywhere from 30 to 90 feet deep, avoiding greater depths, which would hit underground water tables.
Drug traffickers also have been adept at setting up bogus U.S. companies to rent space in bustling Otay Mesa and its 600 warehouses and 12,000 businesses. Many firms are unaware of activities by their neighbors, perhaps noticing only if there’s truck traffic at unusual hours.
Garcia said that even with devices such as seismic sensors, a majority of tunnel busts came from tip-offs by informants or suspicious warehouse operators.
Big tunnels are thought to be the work of the Sinaloa Cartel, which has seized control of Tijuana from the local Arellano-Felix cartel after years of bloody conflict and now is operating in tandem with remnants of the group.
Sinaloa operatives employ mining engineers and architects to help construct their tunnels, while keeping knowledge of locations to as few people as possible.
Experts on the San Diego Tunnel Task Force say "some tunnel excavators in Mexico are killed when the job is done to prevent them from spreading the word on the location," Duffy told senators.
Marijuana growers are turning to ever-larger plantations to meet the capacity of bigger tunnels. Last July, soldiers found a 300-acre screened and irrigated marijuana plantation near San Quintin, 150 miles south of Tijuana, which was four times larger than any such site that had been seized before. Eight months earlier, soldiers seized 148 tons _ 134 metric tons _ of pot in Tijuana, a record.
U.S. and Mexican agents say that tunnel digging, using pneumatic spades, generally is limited to teams of six or seven men. They live at the Tijuana site where the tunnel begins, and excavation is timed to conclude with the harvesting of marijuana crops in late summer and early autumn, so there’s little time for the tunnel to sit idle and be detected.
"The process is tedious," Garcia said, involving working day and night and lugging bags of dirt along the shaft for removal.
But even with million-dollar investments, Garcia said, the tunnel builders "recoup that by making just one trip, given the value of the narcotics we’ve seized."
Most bales of marijuana carry stickers, often fanciful images such as Donald Duck, Captain America, Budweiser or Homer Simpson. The stickers indicate ownership and destination, U.S. agents said.
Tunnel operatives make sure to recoup their investments first.
"The way it works is the tunnel guys build it, so their stuff gets through first. Once it gets through, they start hiring out" to other drug organizations, said Louis Gomez, the supervisor of the San Diego Tunnel Task Force, which includes agents of Customs and Border Protection, the Drug Enforcement Administration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the California Bureau of Narcotic Enforcement.
Tunnel shafts on the Tijuana side that a McClatchy Newspapers journalist visited included one hidden in the floor of a walk-in freezer in a warehouse that’s only two football fields away from warehouses on the U.S. side of the border.
Another shaft was hidden in a unique fashion: "It was the entire floor of a bathroom that went up and down, and they used a hydraulic lift like you’d see in a service station," Garcia said.
Tijuana Police Chief Alberto Capella Ibarra said the tunnels kept growing in sophistication.
"It speaks of the strength and economic power of the cartels, because these tunnels are a huge investment for them," Capella said.
http://news.bostonherald.com/news/international/americas/view.bg?&articleid=1405102&format=&page=1&listingType=intamer#articleFull
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Feds find 32 tons of pot in Calif. border tunnel
Associated Press / MSNBC
November 30, 2011
by Elliot Spagat
The discovery of a cross-border tunnel equipped with electric rail cars, a hydraulic lift and end-to-end wood floors has ended in seizures of more than 32 tons of marijuana, one of the largest pot busts in U.S. history, authorities said Wednesday.
The 600-yard passage linking warehouses in San Diego and Tijuana included a wooden staircase, lighting and ventilation, said Derek Benner, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's special agent in charge of investigations in San Diego. It was tall and wide enough to move comfortably inside.
"This is an incredibly efficient tunnel designed to move a lot of narcotics," Benner told The Associated Press.
Authorities recovered nearly 17 tons of marijuana at the warehouse in San Diego's Otay Mesa area, nearly 12 tons inside a truck in Los Angeles and about 4 tons in Mexico, Benner said. Several arrests were made.
Tuesday's find was the latest in a spate of secret passages found to smuggle drugs underground from Mexico, a response to heightened enforcement on land. In an emerging seasonal trend, many are turning up shortly before the winter holidays in what authorities believe is an effort to take advantage of the Mexican harvest season.
Two weeks ago, authorities seized 17 tons of marijuana in connection with a tunnel linking warehouses in San Diego and Tijuana.
Raids last November on two tunnels linking warehouses in San Diego and Tijuana netted a combined 52 of marijuana on both sides of the border. Those secret passages were lined with rail tracks, and had lighting and ventilation.
Authorities believe the latest tunnel began operating recently but declined to provide details.
"I would say it's probably as sophisticated as any we've ever seen," William Sherman, acting special agent in charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in San Diego told the AP.
More than 70 tunnels have been found on the border since October 2008, surpassing the number of discoveries in the previous six years. Many are clustered around San Diego, California's Imperial Valley and Nogales, Ariz.
California is popular because its clay-like soil is easy to dig with shovels. In Nogales, smugglers tap into vast underground drainage canals.
San Diego's Otay Mesa area has the added draw of plenty of warehouses on both sides of the border to conceal trucks getting loaded with drugs. Its streets hum with semitrailers by day and fall silent on nights and weekends.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45496653/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/
November 30, 2011
by Elliot Spagat
The discovery of a cross-border tunnel equipped with electric rail cars, a hydraulic lift and end-to-end wood floors has ended in seizures of more than 32 tons of marijuana, one of the largest pot busts in U.S. history, authorities said Wednesday.
The 600-yard passage linking warehouses in San Diego and Tijuana included a wooden staircase, lighting and ventilation, said Derek Benner, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's special agent in charge of investigations in San Diego. It was tall and wide enough to move comfortably inside.
"This is an incredibly efficient tunnel designed to move a lot of narcotics," Benner told The Associated Press.
Authorities recovered nearly 17 tons of marijuana at the warehouse in San Diego's Otay Mesa area, nearly 12 tons inside a truck in Los Angeles and about 4 tons in Mexico, Benner said. Several arrests were made.
Tuesday's find was the latest in a spate of secret passages found to smuggle drugs underground from Mexico, a response to heightened enforcement on land. In an emerging seasonal trend, many are turning up shortly before the winter holidays in what authorities believe is an effort to take advantage of the Mexican harvest season.
Two weeks ago, authorities seized 17 tons of marijuana in connection with a tunnel linking warehouses in San Diego and Tijuana.
Raids last November on two tunnels linking warehouses in San Diego and Tijuana netted a combined 52 of marijuana on both sides of the border. Those secret passages were lined with rail tracks, and had lighting and ventilation.
Authorities believe the latest tunnel began operating recently but declined to provide details.
"I would say it's probably as sophisticated as any we've ever seen," William Sherman, acting special agent in charge of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in San Diego told the AP.
More than 70 tunnels have been found on the border since October 2008, surpassing the number of discoveries in the previous six years. Many are clustered around San Diego, California's Imperial Valley and Nogales, Ariz.
California is popular because its clay-like soil is easy to dig with shovels. In Nogales, smugglers tap into vast underground drainage canals.
San Diego's Otay Mesa area has the added draw of plenty of warehouses on both sides of the border to conceal trucks getting loaded with drugs. Its streets hum with semitrailers by day and fall silent on nights and weekends.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45496653/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Third tunnel in a week found under U.S.-Mexico border
Reuters
November 22, 2011
by Tim Gaynor
Border police in Nogales, Arizona, uncovered a drug smuggling tunnel from Mexico, the latest in a spate of illicit passageways found under the border in recent days.
The U.S. Border Patrol said the 319-foot long tunnel was discovered on Monday. It measured three feet wide by two feet tall, and ran for 100 feet into Mexico at a depth of about 20 feet.
It was chiseled through solid rock and was equipped with electricity, lighting, water pumps, and held up by support beams and plywood shoring, the Border Patrol's Tucson sector said in a news release.
While securing the tunnel, agents also found 26 bundles of marijuana weighing more than 430 pounds. One suspect was arrested by authorities in Mexico, Border Patrol agent Colleen Agle said.
The tunnel was the third discovered running under the porous U.S.-Mexico border in less than a week, and the 21st illicit passageway found beneath the streets of Nogales in the past two years.
Last Wednesday Authorities in California announced the find of an underground passageway that stretched 400 yards to an industrial park south of San Diego from Tijuana, Mexico. They seized more than 17 tons of marijuana and arrested two men.
The same day, authorities in Nogales found another smaller passageway beneath the porch of a house that ran 70 feet from a drain in Nogales in Mexico.
Agle said Mexican smugglers are increasingly turning to tunneling in a bid to beat beefed-up border security in the city, where a tall, new steel border fence was completed earlier this year.
"As we have been putting more resources along the border in this area, we are really taking away a lot of the traditional avenues for smuggling contraband and illegal aliens," Agle told Reuters.
She added that the majority of illicit passageways found under the city keyed into the extensive storm drain system that runs under the two Nogales, and contributes to making them such a hotspot for tunnelers.
"One of the things that (smugglers) are doing is exploiting the legitimate drainage system down here, and attempting to create illicit tunnels," she added.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/23/us-usa-mexico-tunnel-idUSTRE7AL2TS20111123
November 22, 2011
by Tim Gaynor
Border police in Nogales, Arizona, uncovered a drug smuggling tunnel from Mexico, the latest in a spate of illicit passageways found under the border in recent days.
The U.S. Border Patrol said the 319-foot long tunnel was discovered on Monday. It measured three feet wide by two feet tall, and ran for 100 feet into Mexico at a depth of about 20 feet.
It was chiseled through solid rock and was equipped with electricity, lighting, water pumps, and held up by support beams and plywood shoring, the Border Patrol's Tucson sector said in a news release.
While securing the tunnel, agents also found 26 bundles of marijuana weighing more than 430 pounds. One suspect was arrested by authorities in Mexico, Border Patrol agent Colleen Agle said.
The tunnel was the third discovered running under the porous U.S.-Mexico border in less than a week, and the 21st illicit passageway found beneath the streets of Nogales in the past two years.
Last Wednesday Authorities in California announced the find of an underground passageway that stretched 400 yards to an industrial park south of San Diego from Tijuana, Mexico. They seized more than 17 tons of marijuana and arrested two men.
The same day, authorities in Nogales found another smaller passageway beneath the porch of a house that ran 70 feet from a drain in Nogales in Mexico.
Agle said Mexican smugglers are increasingly turning to tunneling in a bid to beat beefed-up border security in the city, where a tall, new steel border fence was completed earlier this year.
"As we have been putting more resources along the border in this area, we are really taking away a lot of the traditional avenues for smuggling contraband and illegal aliens," Agle told Reuters.
She added that the majority of illicit passageways found under the city keyed into the extensive storm drain system that runs under the two Nogales, and contributes to making them such a hotspot for tunnelers.
"One of the things that (smugglers) are doing is exploiting the legitimate drainage system down here, and attempting to create illicit tunnels," she added.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/23/us-usa-mexico-tunnel-idUSTRE7AL2TS20111123
Thursday, November 17, 2011
14 Tons of Marijuana Seized After Border Tunnel Is Found
Associated Press / New York Times
November 17, 2011
SAN DIEGO (AP) — An estimated 14 tons of marijuana was seized after the discovery of a tunnel that the authorities said on Wednesday was one of the most significant drug smuggling passages ever found on the United States-Mexico border.
The tunnel stretched about 400 yards and linked warehouses in San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico, the authorities said.
The authorities in the United States seized 9 to 10 tons of marijuana on Tuesday inside a truck and at the warehouse in San Diego’s Otay Mesa area, said Derek Benner, Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s special agent in charge of investigations in San Diego. Mexican authorities recovered about five tons.
Photos taken by the Mexican authorities show an entry blocked by bundles that were most likely stuffed with marijuana, said Paul Beeson, chief of the Border Patrol’s San Diego sector. Wooden supports lined the walls, and power cords led to the Mexican entrance, suggesting lighting and ventilation systems.
The depth and the width of the tunnel were unknown. Several arrests were made. Mr. Benner declined to give details.
As the United States intensifies enforcement on land, more than 70 tunnels have been found on the border since October 2008, surpassing the number of discoveries in the previous six years.
Many are clustered in San Diego, California’s Imperial Valley and Nogales, Ariz. California is popular because its claylike soil is easy to dig. In Nogales, smugglers tap into vast underground drainage canals.
Raids last November on two tunnels linking San Diego and Tijuana netted a combined 50 tons of marijuana on both sides of the border, two of the largest such seizures in United States history. Those secret passages were lined with rail tracks, lighting and ventilation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/17/us/us-mexico-tunnel-leads-to-tons-of-marijuana.html
November 17, 2011
SAN DIEGO (AP) — An estimated 14 tons of marijuana was seized after the discovery of a tunnel that the authorities said on Wednesday was one of the most significant drug smuggling passages ever found on the United States-Mexico border.
The tunnel stretched about 400 yards and linked warehouses in San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico, the authorities said.
The authorities in the United States seized 9 to 10 tons of marijuana on Tuesday inside a truck and at the warehouse in San Diego’s Otay Mesa area, said Derek Benner, Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s special agent in charge of investigations in San Diego. Mexican authorities recovered about five tons.
Photos taken by the Mexican authorities show an entry blocked by bundles that were most likely stuffed with marijuana, said Paul Beeson, chief of the Border Patrol’s San Diego sector. Wooden supports lined the walls, and power cords led to the Mexican entrance, suggesting lighting and ventilation systems.
The depth and the width of the tunnel were unknown. Several arrests were made. Mr. Benner declined to give details.
As the United States intensifies enforcement on land, more than 70 tunnels have been found on the border since October 2008, surpassing the number of discoveries in the previous six years.
Many are clustered in San Diego, California’s Imperial Valley and Nogales, Ariz. California is popular because its claylike soil is easy to dig. In Nogales, smugglers tap into vast underground drainage canals.
Raids last November on two tunnels linking San Diego and Tijuana netted a combined 50 tons of marijuana on both sides of the border, two of the largest such seizures in United States history. Those secret passages were lined with rail tracks, lighting and ventilation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/17/us/us-mexico-tunnel-leads-to-tons-of-marijuana.html
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Drug Smugglers Tunnel Into Arizona Parking Spaces
ABC News
October 12, 2011
By RANDY KREIDER
Drug smugglers are endlessly creative when it comes to inventing ways to move marijuana, cocaine and other contraband from Mexico into the United States.
In the latest innovation uncovered by law enforcement, smugglers in the border town of Nogales, Arizona were bringing drugs into the U.S. for the cost of a quarter.
The parking meters on International Street, which hugs the border fence in Nogales, cost 25 cents. Smugglers in Mexico tunneled under the fence and under the metered parking spaces, and then carefully cut neat rectangles out of the pavement. Their confederates on the U.S. side would park false-bottomed vehicles in the spaces above the holes, feed the meters, and then wait while the underground smugglers stuffed their cars full of drugs from below.
When the exchange was finished, the smugglers would use jacks to put the pavement "plugs" back into place. The car would drive away, and only those observers who were looking closely would notice the seams in the street.
In all, U.S. Border Patrol agents found 16 tunnels leading to the 18 metered parking spaces on International Street. The pavement is now riddled with neat, symmetrical patches.
"It's unbelievable," Nogales mayor Arturo Garino told Tucson, Arizona ABC affiliate KGUN. "Those are the strides these people take to get the drugs across the border."
Past methods of smuggling have included catapults that launch bales of drugs across the border fence. "The [smugglers] have tried everything," said Garino, "and this is one of the most ingenious [methods] of them all.
The city, advised by Homeland Security, has agreed to remove the parking meters. Nogales stands to lose $8,500 annually in parking revenue, plus the cost of citations.
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/drug-smugglers-tunnel-arizona-parking-spaces/story?id=14722556
October 12, 2011
By RANDY KREIDER
Drug smugglers are endlessly creative when it comes to inventing ways to move marijuana, cocaine and other contraband from Mexico into the United States.
In the latest innovation uncovered by law enforcement, smugglers in the border town of Nogales, Arizona were bringing drugs into the U.S. for the cost of a quarter.
The parking meters on International Street, which hugs the border fence in Nogales, cost 25 cents. Smugglers in Mexico tunneled under the fence and under the metered parking spaces, and then carefully cut neat rectangles out of the pavement. Their confederates on the U.S. side would park false-bottomed vehicles in the spaces above the holes, feed the meters, and then wait while the underground smugglers stuffed their cars full of drugs from below.
When the exchange was finished, the smugglers would use jacks to put the pavement "plugs" back into place. The car would drive away, and only those observers who were looking closely would notice the seams in the street.
In all, U.S. Border Patrol agents found 16 tunnels leading to the 18 metered parking spaces on International Street. The pavement is now riddled with neat, symmetrical patches.
"It's unbelievable," Nogales mayor Arturo Garino told Tucson, Arizona ABC affiliate KGUN. "Those are the strides these people take to get the drugs across the border."
Past methods of smuggling have included catapults that launch bales of drugs across the border fence. "The [smugglers] have tried everything," said Garino, "and this is one of the most ingenious [methods] of them all.
The city, advised by Homeland Security, has agreed to remove the parking meters. Nogales stands to lose $8,500 annually in parking revenue, plus the cost of citations.
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/drug-smugglers-tunnel-arizona-parking-spaces/story?id=14722556
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Incomplete smuggling tunnel found in vacant Calexico store
Imperial Valley Press
August 27, 2011
By CHELCEY ADAMI
CALEXICO — Patrons went about their normal business Friday in the old Vons shopping center on Second Street, unaware that Mexico’s pervasive drug business had set up shop in their midst.
A large piece of drilling equipment and an incomplete drug-smuggling tunnel were discovered Thursday afternoon inside the long-closed supermarket, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced.
The tunnel didn’t yet reach into Mexico, whose border fence is easily visible from the store’s front entrance.
Calexico residents working at the neighboring businesses in the shopping center said they hadn’t seen any unusual activity recently.
Some businesses were asked by authorities to close Thursday as the investigation continued.
Rocio Perez of Calexico said in Spanish that normally it’s very peaceful in that shopping center. Knowing that activity like this was occurring nearby makes it seem more dangerous, she said.
Bernardo Mendoza of Brawley was shopping in the center Friday. He said in Spanish he wasn’t surprised about the tunnel and that it often happens near the border.
Calexico resident Melissa Villalobos speculated that it would be easy to construct the tunnel at night since all the shopping center’s stores close after 7 p.m. or 8 p.m.
Signs on the vacant store say “Baja Bikes” and “Coming soon.”
The 4-inch diameter tunnel found inside the store extends about 100 yards.
“The use of pipeline tunnels is one of the newest approaches being employed by drug-smuggling organizations,” an ICE press release stated. “The narrow passages are lined with PVC pipe, and the drugs are smuggled through.”
The agency’s Homeland Security Investigations agents were still gathering evidence Friday.
The tunnel was found after a city of Calexico hazardous materials unit responded to reports of a possible gas leak at the location, the ICE press release explained.
After discovering the equipment and tunnel, local authorities told U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations agents. Mexican law enforcement was also notified.
“This discovery again shows the Mexican cartels’ growing desperation in the face of heightened border security,” El Centro ICE HIS Assistant Special Agent in Charge Ricardo Sandoval said.
“Frustrated by our defenses, they’re literally going underground, but we’re thwarting them there as well,” Sandoval said. “That’s owing to the extraordinary ongoing enforcement efforts involving the agencies here and in Mexico.”
Authorities have found more than 10 smuggling tunnels in the area around Calexico and Mexicali during the last four years, according to ICE.
http://www.ivpressonline.com/news/ivp-incomplete-smuggling-tunnel-found-in-vacant-calexico-store-20110827,0,4212105.story
August 27, 2011
By CHELCEY ADAMI
CALEXICO — Patrons went about their normal business Friday in the old Vons shopping center on Second Street, unaware that Mexico’s pervasive drug business had set up shop in their midst.
A large piece of drilling equipment and an incomplete drug-smuggling tunnel were discovered Thursday afternoon inside the long-closed supermarket, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced.
The tunnel didn’t yet reach into Mexico, whose border fence is easily visible from the store’s front entrance.
Calexico residents working at the neighboring businesses in the shopping center said they hadn’t seen any unusual activity recently.
Some businesses were asked by authorities to close Thursday as the investigation continued.
Rocio Perez of Calexico said in Spanish that normally it’s very peaceful in that shopping center. Knowing that activity like this was occurring nearby makes it seem more dangerous, she said.
Bernardo Mendoza of Brawley was shopping in the center Friday. He said in Spanish he wasn’t surprised about the tunnel and that it often happens near the border.
Calexico resident Melissa Villalobos speculated that it would be easy to construct the tunnel at night since all the shopping center’s stores close after 7 p.m. or 8 p.m.
Signs on the vacant store say “Baja Bikes” and “Coming soon.”
The 4-inch diameter tunnel found inside the store extends about 100 yards.
“The use of pipeline tunnels is one of the newest approaches being employed by drug-smuggling organizations,” an ICE press release stated. “The narrow passages are lined with PVC pipe, and the drugs are smuggled through.”
The agency’s Homeland Security Investigations agents were still gathering evidence Friday.
The tunnel was found after a city of Calexico hazardous materials unit responded to reports of a possible gas leak at the location, the ICE press release explained.
After discovering the equipment and tunnel, local authorities told U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations agents. Mexican law enforcement was also notified.
“This discovery again shows the Mexican cartels’ growing desperation in the face of heightened border security,” El Centro ICE HIS Assistant Special Agent in Charge Ricardo Sandoval said.
“Frustrated by our defenses, they’re literally going underground, but we’re thwarting them there as well,” Sandoval said. “That’s owing to the extraordinary ongoing enforcement efforts involving the agencies here and in Mexico.”
Authorities have found more than 10 smuggling tunnels in the area around Calexico and Mexicali during the last four years, according to ICE.
http://www.ivpressonline.com/news/ivp-incomplete-smuggling-tunnel-found-in-vacant-calexico-store-20110827,0,4212105.story
Thursday, July 7, 2011
Nogales is site of majority of border tunnels
Nogales International
June 21, 2011
by Maggie Pingolt
Arizona has had more than 90 illegal tunnels under its border with Mexico, the most discovered in any state in the Southwest, law enforcement officials told senators this week.
Investigators have uncovered 88 in Nogales alone since 1990, accounting for more than half of the 153 tunnels found on the border.
“Tunnels are unique because it’s almost a foolproof way of getting narcotics into the United States,” said Kevin Kelly, assistant special agent in charge of the Homeland Security investigations directorate in Nogales.
He said Nogales has several things that make it attractive for tunnels: Houses are close together, ownership is often unclear and two large storm drains flow south under the city into Sonora.
Besides making tunneling easier, the short distance between Sonora and Nogales also provides a wealth of potential drop sites for smuggled goods, Kelly said.
Investigators said tunnels vary in size and sophistication — from some that only allow for one man to crawl through, to others with complete lighting and ventilation.
“It’s a cat-and-mouse game to investigate a tunnel,” Kelly said.
The Department of Homeland Security said that since 1990, officials have found 42 tunnels into San Diego, 12 to Calexico, Calif., and two to Tierra Del Sol, Calif.
In Arizona in that time, they have discovered three in San Luis, 88 in Nogales, one in Naco and three in Douglas.
“In Arizona, there’s already an existing infrastructure for smugglers to utilize,” said Tim Durst, assistant special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in San Diego.
Durst also told the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control on Wednesday that climate makes it easier to build tunnels in Arizona and Southern California.
“I think Arizona and California just have more appropriate conditions for drug smugglers to take advantage of,” he said at the hearing on prosecution of tunnel crimes along the Southwest border.
James Dinkins, executive associate director of Homeland Security Investigations, said the increased number and sophistication of tunnels is a direct response to law enforcement efforts.
“We’re literally forcing them to go underground,” Dinkins said.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., co-chair of the caucus, said she has visited numerous tunnels, noting the scale and size as well as their depth — one was more than nine stories below ground, complete with ventilation and concrete floors.
“The only reason they build a tunnel is to avoid authorities,” Feinstein said. “It’s a real way of serious criminal penetration into the United States.”
Feinstein said she would introduce a bill this week to strengthen the existing Border Tunnel Protection Act of 2006 by making “the use, construction or financing of a border tunnel a conspiracy offense.”
Kelly said he welcomes the bill.
“I think anything we can do to enhance or bolster existing authorities is good for us,” he said.
http://www.nogalesinternational.com/articles/2011/06/21/news/doc4e00ba0613177268278043.txt
June 21, 2011
by Maggie Pingolt
Arizona has had more than 90 illegal tunnels under its border with Mexico, the most discovered in any state in the Southwest, law enforcement officials told senators this week.
Investigators have uncovered 88 in Nogales alone since 1990, accounting for more than half of the 153 tunnels found on the border.
“Tunnels are unique because it’s almost a foolproof way of getting narcotics into the United States,” said Kevin Kelly, assistant special agent in charge of the Homeland Security investigations directorate in Nogales.
He said Nogales has several things that make it attractive for tunnels: Houses are close together, ownership is often unclear and two large storm drains flow south under the city into Sonora.
Besides making tunneling easier, the short distance between Sonora and Nogales also provides a wealth of potential drop sites for smuggled goods, Kelly said.
Investigators said tunnels vary in size and sophistication — from some that only allow for one man to crawl through, to others with complete lighting and ventilation.
“It’s a cat-and-mouse game to investigate a tunnel,” Kelly said.
The Department of Homeland Security said that since 1990, officials have found 42 tunnels into San Diego, 12 to Calexico, Calif., and two to Tierra Del Sol, Calif.
In Arizona in that time, they have discovered three in San Luis, 88 in Nogales, one in Naco and three in Douglas.
“In Arizona, there’s already an existing infrastructure for smugglers to utilize,” said Tim Durst, assistant special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in San Diego.
Durst also told the Senate Caucus on International Narcotics Control on Wednesday that climate makes it easier to build tunnels in Arizona and Southern California.
“I think Arizona and California just have more appropriate conditions for drug smugglers to take advantage of,” he said at the hearing on prosecution of tunnel crimes along the Southwest border.
James Dinkins, executive associate director of Homeland Security Investigations, said the increased number and sophistication of tunnels is a direct response to law enforcement efforts.
“We’re literally forcing them to go underground,” Dinkins said.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., co-chair of the caucus, said she has visited numerous tunnels, noting the scale and size as well as their depth — one was more than nine stories below ground, complete with ventilation and concrete floors.
“The only reason they build a tunnel is to avoid authorities,” Feinstein said. “It’s a real way of serious criminal penetration into the United States.”
Feinstein said she would introduce a bill this week to strengthen the existing Border Tunnel Protection Act of 2006 by making “the use, construction or financing of a border tunnel a conspiracy offense.”
Kelly said he welcomes the bill.
“I think anything we can do to enhance or bolster existing authorities is good for us,” he said.
http://www.nogalesinternational.com/articles/2011/06/21/news/doc4e00ba0613177268278043.txt
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Border tunnel found east of Calexico
San Diego Union-Tribune
March 9, 2011
by Susan Shroder
A rudimentary tunnel possibly used to smuggle drugs from Mexico into the United States was found about 2 1/2 miles east of the Calexico Port of Entry, federal officials said Wednesday.
“It’s not a significant tunnel,” said Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement.
The tunnel was found by Mexican authorities, she said. It extends under the border fence about 10 feet into the U.S.
It apparently tapped into underground drainage pipes designed to handle water overflow from a reservoir in Mexico, she said. The reservoir is about 80 yards from the border fence.
Mack said that the entrance to the tunnel in Mexico was hand dug.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/09/border-tunnel-found-east-of-calexico/
March 9, 2011
by Susan Shroder
A rudimentary tunnel possibly used to smuggle drugs from Mexico into the United States was found about 2 1/2 miles east of the Calexico Port of Entry, federal officials said Wednesday.
“It’s not a significant tunnel,” said Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement.
The tunnel was found by Mexican authorities, she said. It extends under the border fence about 10 feet into the U.S.
It apparently tapped into underground drainage pipes designed to handle water overflow from a reservoir in Mexico, she said. The reservoir is about 80 yards from the border fence.
Mack said that the entrance to the tunnel in Mexico was hand dug.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/09/border-tunnel-found-east-of-calexico/
Friday, January 14, 2011
U.S.-Mexican cooperation leads to tunnel discoveries
Nogales International
January 14, 2010
A collaborative effort between U.S. and Mexican authorities led to the discovery of two border tunnels last weekend in Ambos Nogales.
According to the U.S. Border Patrol, the tunnels were discovered Sunday during a joint tunnel sweep along the border fence west of the Dennis DeConcini Port of Entry.
Both tunnels were incomplete, under construction and approximately two feet wide by three feet tall, the Border Patrol said in a news release. One tunnel had entered the United States, extending approximately 10 feet into the country.
The Border Patrol said open lines of communication with Mexican authorities have led U.S. authorities to a number of mutually beneficial, intelligence-driven operations – including tunnel detections.
“Border Patrol agents, in partnership with law enforcement agencies and communities on both sides of the border, continue to be proactive in detecting these illicit tunnels which compromise border security and the structural integrity structures they are built under,” said Manuel Padilla, Jr., division chief of the agency’s Tucson Sector “Binational cooperation has allowed both countries to make major strides in achieving our common goals of making both countries safer.”
Sunday’s discoveries mark the second and third suspected smuggling tunnels found in the area so far in 2011. On Jan. 3, Mexican officials located the mouth of a tunnel in an abandoned house on Calle Internacional in Nogales, Sonora, west of the DeConcini port.
An announcement by the Mexican military said the tunnel was dug about 5 feet beneath the surface and stretched almost 100 feet, apparently just far enough to reach U.S. territory. However, the tunnel had no exit point. the Mexican Army’s 45th Military Zone command said.
http://www.nogalesinternational.com/articles/2011/01/14/news/doc4d3066684414c077235493.txt
January 14, 2010
A collaborative effort between U.S. and Mexican authorities led to the discovery of two border tunnels last weekend in Ambos Nogales.
According to the U.S. Border Patrol, the tunnels were discovered Sunday during a joint tunnel sweep along the border fence west of the Dennis DeConcini Port of Entry.
Both tunnels were incomplete, under construction and approximately two feet wide by three feet tall, the Border Patrol said in a news release. One tunnel had entered the United States, extending approximately 10 feet into the country.
The Border Patrol said open lines of communication with Mexican authorities have led U.S. authorities to a number of mutually beneficial, intelligence-driven operations – including tunnel detections.
“Border Patrol agents, in partnership with law enforcement agencies and communities on both sides of the border, continue to be proactive in detecting these illicit tunnels which compromise border security and the structural integrity structures they are built under,” said Manuel Padilla, Jr., division chief of the agency’s Tucson Sector “Binational cooperation has allowed both countries to make major strides in achieving our common goals of making both countries safer.”
Sunday’s discoveries mark the second and third suspected smuggling tunnels found in the area so far in 2011. On Jan. 3, Mexican officials located the mouth of a tunnel in an abandoned house on Calle Internacional in Nogales, Sonora, west of the DeConcini port.
An announcement by the Mexican military said the tunnel was dug about 5 feet beneath the surface and stretched almost 100 feet, apparently just far enough to reach U.S. territory. However, the tunnel had no exit point. the Mexican Army’s 45th Military Zone command said.
http://www.nogalesinternational.com/articles/2011/01/14/news/doc4d3066684414c077235493.txt
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Ariz. drug tunnel opened to metered parking space
Associated Press / ABC
December 14, 2010
NOGALES, Ariz. -- Immigration agents discovered a 13-foot drug tunnel stretching from the Mexican border to a metered parking space in Arizona, where vehicles with holes cut in the bottom would park and take marijuana from people inside the underground space.
"It was pretty brazen," said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Vincent Picard. "Right in the middle of downtown Nogales."
The tunnel begins directly against the border fence on the Mexican side and leads to an opening 10 inches in diameter on a street in downtown Nogales.
Agents uncovered the tunnel Monday after seeing a cylindrical bundle fall out of a van.
After they began chasing the van, the driver escaped on foot. The passenger, who was not identified, was arrested and will face federal charges of possession of narcotics with the intent to distribute and re-entry after deportation of an aggravated felon.
About 2,200 pounds of pot were seized from the van.
Picard said it's unclear how long the tunnel had been operating or how many drugs were smuggled through it, although he said it likely wasn't very long because it was in such a conspicuous location.
Mexican authorities have secured the tunnel entrance in Mexico, and the Nogales city workers covered the tunnel exit with a steel plate.
The U.S. Border Patrol will guard the tunnel until Mexican officials fill it with concrete, likely soon.
Agents have found dozens of drug tunnels in Nogales since the 1990s. In September, Border Patrol agents found a 3-by-3-foot drug smuggling tunnel tied into the city's storm drain.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/14/AR2010121406010.html
December 14, 2010
NOGALES, Ariz. -- Immigration agents discovered a 13-foot drug tunnel stretching from the Mexican border to a metered parking space in Arizona, where vehicles with holes cut in the bottom would park and take marijuana from people inside the underground space.
"It was pretty brazen," said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman Vincent Picard. "Right in the middle of downtown Nogales."
The tunnel begins directly against the border fence on the Mexican side and leads to an opening 10 inches in diameter on a street in downtown Nogales.
Agents uncovered the tunnel Monday after seeing a cylindrical bundle fall out of a van.
After they began chasing the van, the driver escaped on foot. The passenger, who was not identified, was arrested and will face federal charges of possession of narcotics with the intent to distribute and re-entry after deportation of an aggravated felon.
About 2,200 pounds of pot were seized from the van.
Picard said it's unclear how long the tunnel had been operating or how many drugs were smuggled through it, although he said it likely wasn't very long because it was in such a conspicuous location.
Mexican authorities have secured the tunnel entrance in Mexico, and the Nogales city workers covered the tunnel exit with a steel plate.
The U.S. Border Patrol will guard the tunnel until Mexican officials fill it with concrete, likely soon.
Agents have found dozens of drug tunnels in Nogales since the 1990s. In September, Border Patrol agents found a 3-by-3-foot drug smuggling tunnel tied into the city's storm drain.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/14/AR2010121406010.html
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Federal Agents Go Door-To-Door To Crack Down On Drug Tunnels.
KPBS
December 14, 2010
by Amy Isackson
U.S. federal Authorities are trying out a new tactic in their hunt for subterranean drug smuggling tunnels near the border in San Diego. Authorities are going door-to-door to ask business owners to keep their heads up for underground activity.
"Hello?" shout federal agents as they peek their heads into a warehouse in Otay Mesa, an industrial area just a few blocks from the border fence.
"Hi, how’s it going?," asks an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, who asked not to be named for security reasons, as he introduced himself to the warehouse owner. "I don’t know if you know this or not," the agent tells the owner, "but Otay Mesa is a real hotbed for tunnels. Drug tunnels."
Just last month, federal authorities unearthed two sophisticated tunnels a few blocks from this complex, in the maze of streets filled with generic looking warehouses. The tunnels had electricity and ventilation. One had a hydraulic trap door. And they aren't the only ones that have been discovered in the area. Last year, there was one with an elevator. Back in 2006, authorities found the longest tunnel ever, a mile-and-a-half.
The subterranean passageways surfaced in warehouses nearby. "These are some of the things we’re asking the warehouse managers and owners to be looking for," says the agent, "Things like subterranean noises or jack hammering, without a visible road crew. Or, there’s no construction going on, but you’re hearing construction."
Agents are also asking business owners to be on the lookout for renters who pay in cash and people who keep odd hours.
Agents ask the warehouse manager if they can take a look around. The space is about as big as a football field. Hundreds of boxes bound for Carl’s Jr. restaurants in Mexico are stacked on wooden palates. "That’s toys for kids meals. This is the cheese," says Gabriel Andrade who manages the operation.
He says at least once a week he would pass by the building where they found one of the tunnels last month. He never suspected anything. "I think it is very hard to know. It is a lot of traffic of trucks. We don’t know and hear nothing," says Andrade. He says it’s also difficult to see anything. He says, for example, the neighbors keep their doors closed all day.
That peaks agents’ interest and they go next door. A forklift zips around. Workers unload boxes of chicken taquitos to be sent to U.S. grocery stores.
Margarito Calleja, the manger, says they keep the doors down to keep the sun off the food. "Really, we don’t communicate with people at other warehouses. You arrive. You go inside. You do your work. You leave at 6 in the afternoon. Adios. Bye bye," says Calleja.
There’s constant commotion in the area. Trucks rumble down the roads and ilde outside buildings a few blocks from the commercial border crossing. Joe Garcia, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, say that’s part of what makes Otay Mesa attractive to tunnelers. "You have shipping and distribution going on almost around the clock up here in Otay Mesa. There’s a lot of truck traffic. It is a perfect cover for them," says Garcia.
And that’s the case for the tunnel found on Thanksgiving day.
The ICE agent, who cannot be named, climbs down a ladder in a hole in the floor in the back room of a warehouse, into the tunnel. He pats the wall. "This is a hard clay that’s pretty common in the Otay Mesa area," says the agent. It's another reason tunnelers like this spot. "It holds its form pretty well. Right here you can see the jackhammer lines where the tunnel diggers jack hammered out this clay," says the agent. He says diggers can advance about 10 feet a day. He calculates this 2,000 foot-long tunnel took about 200 days to build. "The construction is impressive. You are navigating underground. Things like GPS don't work and you have to rely on a compasses. It would take an engineer," says the agent.
This tunnel began in kitchen floor of a home in Tijuana. It plunged down 90 feet and travel about a half-mile, beneath the border fence, before surfacing in the warehouse. Smugglers laid tracks in the tunnel and used a homemade cart to ferry tons of drugs underneath the border. They had carved out a room at the bottom of the tunnel where they stored bales of marijuana. With the two tunnels last month, agents seized about 50 tons of marijuana. That’s a record for the U.S.
ICE agent Garcia says they didn’t used to get enormous seizures like that. He says four years ago, Mexican authorities warned the smugglers that a raid was coming. "We know for a fact that in 2006, things were delayed so the cartel could pull their narcotics out of the tunnel," says Garcia.
He says that doesn’t happen anymore. He says now U.S. and Mexican authorities work together, almost like peers. And he says the extra eyes and ears of Otay Mesa business owners will also help authorities outsmart the criminals. "I think the only thing that stops it from being Swiss cheese around here is that it costs a lot of money to build tunnels. Do I think there's another out there? I'd be naive to think we got them all," ponders Garcia. "We're going to keep doing what we are doing, good investigative work." says Garcia.
http://www.kpbs.org/news/2010/dec/14/federal-agents-go-door-door-crackdown-drug-tunnels/
December 14, 2010
by Amy Isackson
U.S. federal Authorities are trying out a new tactic in their hunt for subterranean drug smuggling tunnels near the border in San Diego. Authorities are going door-to-door to ask business owners to keep their heads up for underground activity.
"Hello?" shout federal agents as they peek their heads into a warehouse in Otay Mesa, an industrial area just a few blocks from the border fence.
"Hi, how’s it going?," asks an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, who asked not to be named for security reasons, as he introduced himself to the warehouse owner. "I don’t know if you know this or not," the agent tells the owner, "but Otay Mesa is a real hotbed for tunnels. Drug tunnels."
Just last month, federal authorities unearthed two sophisticated tunnels a few blocks from this complex, in the maze of streets filled with generic looking warehouses. The tunnels had electricity and ventilation. One had a hydraulic trap door. And they aren't the only ones that have been discovered in the area. Last year, there was one with an elevator. Back in 2006, authorities found the longest tunnel ever, a mile-and-a-half.
The subterranean passageways surfaced in warehouses nearby. "These are some of the things we’re asking the warehouse managers and owners to be looking for," says the agent, "Things like subterranean noises or jack hammering, without a visible road crew. Or, there’s no construction going on, but you’re hearing construction."
Agents are also asking business owners to be on the lookout for renters who pay in cash and people who keep odd hours.
Agents ask the warehouse manager if they can take a look around. The space is about as big as a football field. Hundreds of boxes bound for Carl’s Jr. restaurants in Mexico are stacked on wooden palates. "That’s toys for kids meals. This is the cheese," says Gabriel Andrade who manages the operation.
He says at least once a week he would pass by the building where they found one of the tunnels last month. He never suspected anything. "I think it is very hard to know. It is a lot of traffic of trucks. We don’t know and hear nothing," says Andrade. He says it’s also difficult to see anything. He says, for example, the neighbors keep their doors closed all day.
That peaks agents’ interest and they go next door. A forklift zips around. Workers unload boxes of chicken taquitos to be sent to U.S. grocery stores.
Margarito Calleja, the manger, says they keep the doors down to keep the sun off the food. "Really, we don’t communicate with people at other warehouses. You arrive. You go inside. You do your work. You leave at 6 in the afternoon. Adios. Bye bye," says Calleja.
There’s constant commotion in the area. Trucks rumble down the roads and ilde outside buildings a few blocks from the commercial border crossing. Joe Garcia, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, say that’s part of what makes Otay Mesa attractive to tunnelers. "You have shipping and distribution going on almost around the clock up here in Otay Mesa. There’s a lot of truck traffic. It is a perfect cover for them," says Garcia.
And that’s the case for the tunnel found on Thanksgiving day.
The ICE agent, who cannot be named, climbs down a ladder in a hole in the floor in the back room of a warehouse, into the tunnel. He pats the wall. "This is a hard clay that’s pretty common in the Otay Mesa area," says the agent. It's another reason tunnelers like this spot. "It holds its form pretty well. Right here you can see the jackhammer lines where the tunnel diggers jack hammered out this clay," says the agent. He says diggers can advance about 10 feet a day. He calculates this 2,000 foot-long tunnel took about 200 days to build. "The construction is impressive. You are navigating underground. Things like GPS don't work and you have to rely on a compasses. It would take an engineer," says the agent.
This tunnel began in kitchen floor of a home in Tijuana. It plunged down 90 feet and travel about a half-mile, beneath the border fence, before surfacing in the warehouse. Smugglers laid tracks in the tunnel and used a homemade cart to ferry tons of drugs underneath the border. They had carved out a room at the bottom of the tunnel where they stored bales of marijuana. With the two tunnels last month, agents seized about 50 tons of marijuana. That’s a record for the U.S.
ICE agent Garcia says they didn’t used to get enormous seizures like that. He says four years ago, Mexican authorities warned the smugglers that a raid was coming. "We know for a fact that in 2006, things were delayed so the cartel could pull their narcotics out of the tunnel," says Garcia.
He says that doesn’t happen anymore. He says now U.S. and Mexican authorities work together, almost like peers. And he says the extra eyes and ears of Otay Mesa business owners will also help authorities outsmart the criminals. "I think the only thing that stops it from being Swiss cheese around here is that it costs a lot of money to build tunnels. Do I think there's another out there? I'd be naive to think we got them all," ponders Garcia. "We're going to keep doing what we are doing, good investigative work." says Garcia.
http://www.kpbs.org/news/2010/dec/14/federal-agents-go-door-door-crackdown-drug-tunnels/
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Second Rail-Equipped Drug Tunnel Found at Mexican Border
New York Times
November 26, 2010
by Rebecca Cathcart
LOS ANGELES — Federal investigators discovered a sophisticated cross-border tunnel Thursday in an industrial part of San Diego. The half-mile tunnel was the second found this month equipped with rail tracks and carts to funnel drugs to and from Tijuana, Mexico.
After getting a tip about drug activity at a warehouse in Otay Mesa, a thicket of warehouses and truck repair shops that hugs the Mexican border, agents with the San Diego Tunnel Task Force arrested three men there and discovered the tunnel. United States and Mexican authorities have seized more than 20 tons of marijuana since Thursday.
Mexican military investigators later detained five men in Tijuana and uncovered an entrance to the tunnel beneath the kitchen floor of a house.
Mike Unzueta, who oversees investigations for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in San Diego, said there were two entrances on the United States side, both in warehouses in the Otay Mesa area. Investigators believe the tunnel was operated by the Sinaloa cartel, one of the five largest drug cartels operating in Mexico. “This is fairly sophisticated construction,” Mr. Unzueta said. “There is a lighting system throughout, a ventilation system.”
The walls were reinforced with wood and cinder blocks, and had electrical outlets to charge jackhammers used to cut a path 60 to 90 feet underground.
On Nov. 2, federal agents found about 32 tons of marijuana and another tunnel less than a block from this one. The earlier tunnel had similar construction and connected two warehouses on either side of the border.
The authorities have found more than 75 tunnels along the border in the last four years. Most are rudimentary dirt passages, closer to the surface. Border Patrol agents discover many of the smaller tunnels when the ground beneath their vehicles caves in as they drive the dirt stretches along the border in California, Arizona and Texas, Mr. Unzueta said.
Otay Mesa, he said, has stronger ground, full of clay and decomposing granite. “You could just about build a tunnel without any reinforcement and it will stay,” he said.
The area is a target of the cartels because of its ready commercial infrastructure.
“There are literally semi trucks and warehouses everywhere you look,” Mr. Unzueta said, “and all the businesses that support that: gas stations, truck service centers. It’s an infrastructure that exists on both sides of the border.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/27/us/27tunnel.html
November 26, 2010
by Rebecca Cathcart
LOS ANGELES — Federal investigators discovered a sophisticated cross-border tunnel Thursday in an industrial part of San Diego. The half-mile tunnel was the second found this month equipped with rail tracks and carts to funnel drugs to and from Tijuana, Mexico.
After getting a tip about drug activity at a warehouse in Otay Mesa, a thicket of warehouses and truck repair shops that hugs the Mexican border, agents with the San Diego Tunnel Task Force arrested three men there and discovered the tunnel. United States and Mexican authorities have seized more than 20 tons of marijuana since Thursday.
Mexican military investigators later detained five men in Tijuana and uncovered an entrance to the tunnel beneath the kitchen floor of a house.
Mike Unzueta, who oversees investigations for Immigration and Customs Enforcement in San Diego, said there were two entrances on the United States side, both in warehouses in the Otay Mesa area. Investigators believe the tunnel was operated by the Sinaloa cartel, one of the five largest drug cartels operating in Mexico. “This is fairly sophisticated construction,” Mr. Unzueta said. “There is a lighting system throughout, a ventilation system.”
The walls were reinforced with wood and cinder blocks, and had electrical outlets to charge jackhammers used to cut a path 60 to 90 feet underground.
On Nov. 2, federal agents found about 32 tons of marijuana and another tunnel less than a block from this one. The earlier tunnel had similar construction and connected two warehouses on either side of the border.
The authorities have found more than 75 tunnels along the border in the last four years. Most are rudimentary dirt passages, closer to the surface. Border Patrol agents discover many of the smaller tunnels when the ground beneath their vehicles caves in as they drive the dirt stretches along the border in California, Arizona and Texas, Mr. Unzueta said.
Otay Mesa, he said, has stronger ground, full of clay and decomposing granite. “You could just about build a tunnel without any reinforcement and it will stay,” he said.
The area is a target of the cartels because of its ready commercial infrastructure.
“There are literally semi trucks and warehouses everywhere you look,” Mr. Unzueta said, “and all the businesses that support that: gas stations, truck service centers. It’s an infrastructure that exists on both sides of the border.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/27/us/27tunnel.html
Friday, November 5, 2010
Nogales underground: drug tunnel capital of U.S.
KOLD TV
November 4, 2010
By Som Lisaius
NOGALES, AZ (KOLD) - The DeConcini Port of Entry in Nogales is almost always busy.
Bottle-necked vehicles moving north and south, not to mention lines of pedestrian traffic receiving the same kind of scrutiny from federal agents holding semi-automatic rifles.
"So much attention is paid to what's going on above ground," says New York Times writer Marc Lacey, on assignment in Nogales, researching the area's underground passageways. "People crossing, there's all this. There's a fence being built."
Perhaps this is why more smugglers are increasingly going underground. And in this case, directly below the DeConcini Port of Entry.
Agent Kevin Hecht is a tunnel specialist with the United States Border Patrol in Nogales.
"In this particular area they were deep enough," Agent Hecht says, pointing the port of entry at the U.S.-Mexico border. "And with all the traffic disguising the noise, they were able to crawl through and dig and design the tunnel."
This tunnel was recently identified thanks to a tour bus that made the lane give way, exposing the illicit passageway.
As bold as it may seem, drug tunnels beneath the port of entry aren't that uncommon.
At least four holes patched with cement represent other failed attempts at the port of entry. Before this tunnel could be filled similarly, we decided to take a closer look.
"We are literally going inside the tunnel," I say, taking my photographer Andrew Brown into the hole with me. "It's about as primitive as you can get. If I were to get down on my hands and knees I'd probably be able to crawl my way through this space. But as you can see, it's only a few feet wide, a few feet deep."
But that's all it takes to get from one country to the next.
Over the last four years at least 51 unauthorized tunnels have been identified between Nogales, Ariz. and Nogales, Sonora--making it the drug tunnel capital of the U.S.-Mexico border.
"Tijuana is known for its tunnels," Lacey says. "But no other place has as many as Nogales--and I'm here checking that out."
In many cases, the tunnels are only 20 to 30 feet long, connecting Mexico with an underground drainage system in the U.S.
That same drainage system runs parallel with the DeConcini Port Entry. It creates quite a mess, every time a new tunnel is located.
"We only have so many lanes here at DeConcini to process traffic," says Craig Hope, assistant port director at DeConcini. "This lane in particular is used by buses. And as you can see, we had to shut the lane down and it's been closed since."
Back below the surface, I try to wrap my mind around the measures being taken by so many people, for so many years.
"It doesn't get much more claustrophobic , it doesn't get much more daunting," I say, looking into the camera. "But again this is a real-life depiction of what these people are willing to go through to get their product and themselves into the United States."
The tunnels are often carved with primitive hand tools--a process that can take months, even years to complete.
Once identified, the tunnels are filled with cement in just a matter of minutes.
In this case, another tunnel threat avoided. Even though the next would be identified literally that same day.
"Just a stunning thing to see how desperate people are," says Lacey, visibly pleased with what he's witnessing. "How good the business is. That they're using any means necessary to get across."
http://www.kold.com/Global/story.asp?S=13448184
November 4, 2010
By Som Lisaius
NOGALES, AZ (KOLD) - The DeConcini Port of Entry in Nogales is almost always busy.
Bottle-necked vehicles moving north and south, not to mention lines of pedestrian traffic receiving the same kind of scrutiny from federal agents holding semi-automatic rifles.
"So much attention is paid to what's going on above ground," says New York Times writer Marc Lacey, on assignment in Nogales, researching the area's underground passageways. "People crossing, there's all this. There's a fence being built."
Perhaps this is why more smugglers are increasingly going underground. And in this case, directly below the DeConcini Port of Entry.
Agent Kevin Hecht is a tunnel specialist with the United States Border Patrol in Nogales.
"In this particular area they were deep enough," Agent Hecht says, pointing the port of entry at the U.S.-Mexico border. "And with all the traffic disguising the noise, they were able to crawl through and dig and design the tunnel."
This tunnel was recently identified thanks to a tour bus that made the lane give way, exposing the illicit passageway.
As bold as it may seem, drug tunnels beneath the port of entry aren't that uncommon.
At least four holes patched with cement represent other failed attempts at the port of entry. Before this tunnel could be filled similarly, we decided to take a closer look.
"We are literally going inside the tunnel," I say, taking my photographer Andrew Brown into the hole with me. "It's about as primitive as you can get. If I were to get down on my hands and knees I'd probably be able to crawl my way through this space. But as you can see, it's only a few feet wide, a few feet deep."
But that's all it takes to get from one country to the next.
Over the last four years at least 51 unauthorized tunnels have been identified between Nogales, Ariz. and Nogales, Sonora--making it the drug tunnel capital of the U.S.-Mexico border.
"Tijuana is known for its tunnels," Lacey says. "But no other place has as many as Nogales--and I'm here checking that out."
In many cases, the tunnels are only 20 to 30 feet long, connecting Mexico with an underground drainage system in the U.S.
That same drainage system runs parallel with the DeConcini Port Entry. It creates quite a mess, every time a new tunnel is located.
"We only have so many lanes here at DeConcini to process traffic," says Craig Hope, assistant port director at DeConcini. "This lane in particular is used by buses. And as you can see, we had to shut the lane down and it's been closed since."
Back below the surface, I try to wrap my mind around the measures being taken by so many people, for so many years.
"It doesn't get much more claustrophobic , it doesn't get much more daunting," I say, looking into the camera. "But again this is a real-life depiction of what these people are willing to go through to get their product and themselves into the United States."
The tunnels are often carved with primitive hand tools--a process that can take months, even years to complete.
Once identified, the tunnels are filled with cement in just a matter of minutes.
In this case, another tunnel threat avoided. Even though the next would be identified literally that same day.
"Just a stunning thing to see how desperate people are," says Lacey, visibly pleased with what he's witnessing. "How good the business is. That they're using any means necessary to get across."
http://www.kold.com/Global/story.asp?S=13448184
Thursday, November 4, 2010
U.S. Uncovers Major Cross-Border Drug Tunnel
National Public Radio
November 4, 2010
by Amy Isackson
U.S. and Mexican authorities confiscated approximately 30 tons of marijuana on Wednesday. It is the largest seizure ever along the San Diego border, and one of the largest in the U.S.
Law enforcement officials made the discovery after a semi truck leaving a warehouse in Otay Mesa, Calif., caught the attention of authorities, who followed the truck 80 miles north to a border checkpoint.
"In that tractor trailer was 10 tons of marijuana," said John Morton, director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
A man and his wife inside the truck were arrested.
When authorities went back to the warehouse, located 300 yards from the Mexican border fence, they found an additional 20 tons of marijuana along with a large rectangular hole leading to an underground tunnel.
"Some of these packages were out in the open and just laying on the floor here," said ICE special agent Joe Garcia. "You have to be on your hands and knees to get in [the tunnel]. There's ventilation, a little bit of a primitive rail system in there and there's some lighting."
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=131075623
November 4, 2010
by Amy Isackson
U.S. and Mexican authorities confiscated approximately 30 tons of marijuana on Wednesday. It is the largest seizure ever along the San Diego border, and one of the largest in the U.S.
Law enforcement officials made the discovery after a semi truck leaving a warehouse in Otay Mesa, Calif., caught the attention of authorities, who followed the truck 80 miles north to a border checkpoint.
"In that tractor trailer was 10 tons of marijuana," said John Morton, director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
A man and his wife inside the truck were arrested.
When authorities went back to the warehouse, located 300 yards from the Mexican border fence, they found an additional 20 tons of marijuana along with a large rectangular hole leading to an underground tunnel.
"Some of these packages were out in the open and just laying on the floor here," said ICE special agent Joe Garcia. "You have to be on your hands and knees to get in [the tunnel]. There's ventilation, a little bit of a primitive rail system in there and there's some lighting."
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=131075623
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Smugglers of Drugs Burrow on Border
New York Times
October 2, 2010
by Marc Lacey
NOGALES, Ariz. — Drone aircraft patrol the United States-Mexico border from the skies. Fast boats look out for smugglers at sea. And tens of thousands of Border Patrol agents use trucks, horses, all-terrain vehicles and bicycles to stop unauthorized crossers on land.
But there is another route across the border, one in which smugglers slither north. As enforcement efforts have increased and border barriers have been built, tunneling has gained in popularity, with Nogales becoming the capital.
On Thursday, the Border Patrol was filling an underground tunnel that had been discovered right under the immigration checkpoint in Nogales. But even before the concrete was poured to make that tunnel inoperative, another subterranean passageway was discovered a block away.
The second tunnel, which had been used to bring bales of marijuana from Mexico, will be filled as well. There are patches, in fact, all across this city, where the authorities have tried to tap the tunnels that traffickers build off the extensive underground storm drain system that connects Nogales with another city by the same name across the fence in Mexico.
With profit margins so huge, drug traffickers pushing their wares across the border are an enterprising lot. No matter how much the United States government pours into the region to stop them, there always seem to be novel attempts to elude detection.
And the two Nogaleses are where drug trafficking has literally gone underground. Burrowing from one country to the other happens elsewhere along the border, particularly in the smuggling zone around Tijuana. But officials say most of the tunnels discovered along the entire stretch of the border are from the Mexican Nogales to the American one.
“We are in the lead in the tunnel business,” said Chief Jeffrey Kirkham of the Nogales Police Department.
It is the geography of the region that makes tunneling so common here, as the Mexican side sits at a slightly higher elevation and water flows north through generations-old underground channels. “Through the downtowns of both cities, the drainage flows through a tunnel and then at some point goes into an open channel on the U.S. side,” said Sally Spener, spokeswoman for the International Boundary and Water Commission, a binational body that oversees water issues between the United States and Mexico.
Over the last four years, at least 51 unauthorized tunnels, or more than one a month, have been found in the two border cities. Some are short, narrow passageways that require those navigating them to slither. Others are long, sophisticated underground thoroughfares strung with electric cables and ventilation hoses.
Last year, a resident tipped off the authorities to a tunnel that extended 48 feet into Mexico and 35 feet into the United States, making it one of the longest ever found in Nogales.
One high-end tunnel found in 2005 farther west in Calexico, Calif., originated in the master bedroom of a Mexican home and extended to a garage on the American side. It had a phone line and air conditioning, and the authorities estimated that dozens of truckloads of dirt had to be removed to build it.
Although migrants heading north sometimes use tunnels, the passageways are more often considered the handiwork of drug smugglers. That means residents, especially on the Mexican side, sometimes look the other way when they observe surreptitious tunneling for fear of attracting the attention of criminals.
On the Arizona side, specially trained Border Patrol agents monitor the drains, entering the dark underworld that crisscrosses the border and looking for unauthorized offshoots dug by hand.
The air is cool down below. The only sound comes from the chirping of bats and the flow of water, a mixture of storm runoff and sewage. It seems a good place to hide.
“I’m one foot from the border,” Kevin Hecht, a Border Patrol agent standing in the dark in a stream of pungent water, said as he shined his flashlight around. “Down here, you look for signs of movement. You look for digging.”
Farther down the drain, David Jimarez, a Border Patrol spokesman, squatted in a tunnel and peered into a two-foot offshoot. “They crawl on their bellies,” he said. “They’re like a snake.”
How the tunnels are discovered varies. The one filled with concrete last week was found when the front tire of a bus sank into the pavement, revealing a weak spot that was caused by tunneling. There have been cases, officials say, of manholes popping up in the middle of roadways, with furtive eyes peering out. The owner of a Nogales warehouse last year discovered a tunnel in his border-front property.
Sometimes the diggers make too much noise. In June, a security guard at the DeConcini Port of Entry reported hearing strange sounds emanating from a storm drain that ran from the border fence north to Interstate 19. It turned out to be a tunnel just large enough to fit a smuggler.
“It’s a netherworld down there,” said Roy Bermudes, the assistant police chief in Nogales. “If you turn off your flashlight, you can’t see your hand in front of your face.”
Chief Bermudes used to enter the tunnels regularly when he led the police SWAT team that provided backup to city workers doing underground repair work. He recalls hearing a noise while underground and aiming his rifle in front of him, only to discover a Mexican military squad doing a similar patrol. After a brief standoff, the guns on both sides were lowered.
Eventually, as the danger grew, the city handed over patrol duties to the Border Patrol, which has installed underground cameras and motion detectors.
It is not just the flow of drugs that concerns the authorities here. The tunneling weakens roadways, sometimes causing them to buckle, and puts buildings at risk.
“There is a joke in Nogales that someday its entire downtown will collapse into a giant sinkhole due to the many drug tunnels in the city,” Hugh Holub, a former public works director in Nogales, wrote recently.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/03/us/03tunnels.html?_r=2&th&emc=th
October 2, 2010
by Marc Lacey
NOGALES, Ariz. — Drone aircraft patrol the United States-Mexico border from the skies. Fast boats look out for smugglers at sea. And tens of thousands of Border Patrol agents use trucks, horses, all-terrain vehicles and bicycles to stop unauthorized crossers on land.
But there is another route across the border, one in which smugglers slither north. As enforcement efforts have increased and border barriers have been built, tunneling has gained in popularity, with Nogales becoming the capital.
On Thursday, the Border Patrol was filling an underground tunnel that had been discovered right under the immigration checkpoint in Nogales. But even before the concrete was poured to make that tunnel inoperative, another subterranean passageway was discovered a block away.
The second tunnel, which had been used to bring bales of marijuana from Mexico, will be filled as well. There are patches, in fact, all across this city, where the authorities have tried to tap the tunnels that traffickers build off the extensive underground storm drain system that connects Nogales with another city by the same name across the fence in Mexico.
With profit margins so huge, drug traffickers pushing their wares across the border are an enterprising lot. No matter how much the United States government pours into the region to stop them, there always seem to be novel attempts to elude detection.
And the two Nogaleses are where drug trafficking has literally gone underground. Burrowing from one country to the other happens elsewhere along the border, particularly in the smuggling zone around Tijuana. But officials say most of the tunnels discovered along the entire stretch of the border are from the Mexican Nogales to the American one.
“We are in the lead in the tunnel business,” said Chief Jeffrey Kirkham of the Nogales Police Department.
It is the geography of the region that makes tunneling so common here, as the Mexican side sits at a slightly higher elevation and water flows north through generations-old underground channels. “Through the downtowns of both cities, the drainage flows through a tunnel and then at some point goes into an open channel on the U.S. side,” said Sally Spener, spokeswoman for the International Boundary and Water Commission, a binational body that oversees water issues between the United States and Mexico.
Over the last four years, at least 51 unauthorized tunnels, or more than one a month, have been found in the two border cities. Some are short, narrow passageways that require those navigating them to slither. Others are long, sophisticated underground thoroughfares strung with electric cables and ventilation hoses.
Last year, a resident tipped off the authorities to a tunnel that extended 48 feet into Mexico and 35 feet into the United States, making it one of the longest ever found in Nogales.
One high-end tunnel found in 2005 farther west in Calexico, Calif., originated in the master bedroom of a Mexican home and extended to a garage on the American side. It had a phone line and air conditioning, and the authorities estimated that dozens of truckloads of dirt had to be removed to build it.
Although migrants heading north sometimes use tunnels, the passageways are more often considered the handiwork of drug smugglers. That means residents, especially on the Mexican side, sometimes look the other way when they observe surreptitious tunneling for fear of attracting the attention of criminals.
On the Arizona side, specially trained Border Patrol agents monitor the drains, entering the dark underworld that crisscrosses the border and looking for unauthorized offshoots dug by hand.
The air is cool down below. The only sound comes from the chirping of bats and the flow of water, a mixture of storm runoff and sewage. It seems a good place to hide.
“I’m one foot from the border,” Kevin Hecht, a Border Patrol agent standing in the dark in a stream of pungent water, said as he shined his flashlight around. “Down here, you look for signs of movement. You look for digging.”
Farther down the drain, David Jimarez, a Border Patrol spokesman, squatted in a tunnel and peered into a two-foot offshoot. “They crawl on their bellies,” he said. “They’re like a snake.”
How the tunnels are discovered varies. The one filled with concrete last week was found when the front tire of a bus sank into the pavement, revealing a weak spot that was caused by tunneling. There have been cases, officials say, of manholes popping up in the middle of roadways, with furtive eyes peering out. The owner of a Nogales warehouse last year discovered a tunnel in his border-front property.
Sometimes the diggers make too much noise. In June, a security guard at the DeConcini Port of Entry reported hearing strange sounds emanating from a storm drain that ran from the border fence north to Interstate 19. It turned out to be a tunnel just large enough to fit a smuggler.
“It’s a netherworld down there,” said Roy Bermudes, the assistant police chief in Nogales. “If you turn off your flashlight, you can’t see your hand in front of your face.”
Chief Bermudes used to enter the tunnels regularly when he led the police SWAT team that provided backup to city workers doing underground repair work. He recalls hearing a noise while underground and aiming his rifle in front of him, only to discover a Mexican military squad doing a similar patrol. After a brief standoff, the guns on both sides were lowered.
Eventually, as the danger grew, the city handed over patrol duties to the Border Patrol, which has installed underground cameras and motion detectors.
It is not just the flow of drugs that concerns the authorities here. The tunneling weakens roadways, sometimes causing them to buckle, and puts buildings at risk.
“There is a joke in Nogales that someday its entire downtown will collapse into a giant sinkhole due to the many drug tunnels in the city,” Hugh Holub, a former public works director in Nogales, wrote recently.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/03/us/03tunnels.html?_r=2&th&emc=th
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Border tunnel, with elevator, discovered
San Diego Union-Tribune
December 2, 2009
by Sandra Dibble
A cross-border tunnel equipped with an elevator and lighting and electrical systems was discovered Wednesday just west of the Otay Mesa Point of Entry, federal authorities said.
Acting on a tip received by U.S. officials, Mexican authorities found the tunnel and arrested at least 12 people inside, authorities said.
The tunnel, which did not yet have an opening on the U.S. side, was about 1,000 feet long, 860 feet of which were in the United States. It was about 90 to 100 feet deep in some areas.
No arrests have been made in the United States. Officials estimate the tunnel may have been under construction for about two years.
On Wednesday afternoon, Mexican soldiers could be seen guarding a warehouse in an industrial area located about one kilometer west of the Otay Mesa border crossing. The building, made out of blocks and painted beige, abuts the border fence.
On the U.S. side, tractor trailers can be seen driving next to the fence. The nearest building is several hundred feet away.
About 120 cross-border tunnels have been discovered and dismantled along the Southwest border. Smugglers have been digging under the border for decades to avoid detection. Officials said they have seen a spike since 9/11 when heightened enforcement along the border forced smugglers to come up with alternative ways to move contraband.
The tunnels have also become increasingly sophisticated, with elevators to lower large amounts of contraband and ventilation systems so workers can spend hours underground.
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/news/2009/dec/02/border-tunnel-found-west-of-otay-mesa/?imw=Y
December 2, 2009
by Sandra Dibble
A cross-border tunnel equipped with an elevator and lighting and electrical systems was discovered Wednesday just west of the Otay Mesa Point of Entry, federal authorities said.
Acting on a tip received by U.S. officials, Mexican authorities found the tunnel and arrested at least 12 people inside, authorities said.
The tunnel, which did not yet have an opening on the U.S. side, was about 1,000 feet long, 860 feet of which were in the United States. It was about 90 to 100 feet deep in some areas.
No arrests have been made in the United States. Officials estimate the tunnel may have been under construction for about two years.
On Wednesday afternoon, Mexican soldiers could be seen guarding a warehouse in an industrial area located about one kilometer west of the Otay Mesa border crossing. The building, made out of blocks and painted beige, abuts the border fence.
On the U.S. side, tractor trailers can be seen driving next to the fence. The nearest building is several hundred feet away.
About 120 cross-border tunnels have been discovered and dismantled along the Southwest border. Smugglers have been digging under the border for decades to avoid detection. Officials said they have seen a spike since 9/11 when heightened enforcement along the border forced smugglers to come up with alternative ways to move contraband.
The tunnels have also become increasingly sophisticated, with elevators to lower large amounts of contraband and ventilation systems so workers can spend hours underground.
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/news/2009/dec/02/border-tunnel-found-west-of-otay-mesa/?imw=Y
Monday, August 17, 2009
2,000 miles of controversy
High Country News
July 27, 2009
http://www.hcn.org/issues/41.13/2-000-miles-of-controversy
July 27, 2009
A 15-foot-high, rust-colored steel wall snakes across the scrubby desert landscape, dividing the twin border cities of Nogales, Ariz., and Nogales, Sonora. On the Arizona side, Border Patrol agents sit at the ready while reconnaissance airplanes drone overhead. On the Mexican side, border crossers driven by poverty lie in wait for nightfall. Then they will face a wall that is decorated with graffiti images, remembering the many lives already lost across the line.
The wall stretches out of the ramshackle city, over arid mountains and through verdant river valleys. Whether it's effective in defending the U.S. from low-wage laborers, drug traffickers and the occasional terrorist remains uncertain. But in dividing the borderlands ecosystems its success is undeniable. A study published in July by Conservation Biology reported that the final elements of border fence construction could prevent the migration and population growth of desert bighorn sheep and ferruginous pygmy owls. That's a mere fraction of the diverse plants and animals endangered by the wall.
In the roughly 150 years since it was established, the Southern border has been largely unregulated. Security crackdown began in the 1990s, focused in urban areas, but post-2001 terrorism hype drove the recent increase in border militarization. In 2006, President Bush signed an act mandating the construction of 670 miles of reinforced border fencing by 2009, 630 miles of which are already completed. The Department of Homeland Security, in turn, used its clout to bypass any environmental law that got in the way of the fence.
At-risk wildlife haven't figured out how to get around the fence, but humans are more resourceful: This summer, U.S. Border Patrol agents found a new 83-foot long tunnel under the border in Nogales. It was the 16th discovered in half as many months.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)