LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - U.S.
federal agents have uncovered two drug-smuggling tunnels underneath the
U.S.-Mexico border, both surfacing in San Diego-area warehouses and
equipped with rail systems for moving contraband, officials said on
Friday.Continue reading after the cut.....
The discovery led to
the arrest of a 73-year-old woman accused of running one of the
warehouses connected to a drug smuggling operation, according to a joint
news release by four federal agencies.
The tunnels were discovered as part of a five-month investigation by the so-called San Diego Tunnel Task Force.
Federal
law enforcement officials said the first tunnel, which connects a
warehouse in Tijuana, Mexico, with one in an industrial park in the
border community of Otay Mesa, is about 600 yards long and is furnished
with lighting, a crude rail system and wooden trusses.
The
passageway is accessed via a 70-foot shaft secured by a cement cover
and includes a pulley system on the U.S. side apparently intended to
hoist contraband up into the warehouse.
The
second tunnel was even more sophisticated, built with a multi-tiered
electric rail system and an array of ventilation equipment.
"Here
we are again, foiling cartel plans to sneak millions of dollars of
illegal drugs through secret passageways that cost millions of dollars
to build," U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy said in a statement.
"Going
underground is not a good business plan. We have promised to locate
these super tunnels and keep powerful drug cartels from taking their
business underground and out of sight, and once again, we have delivered
on that promise," Duffy said.
The
two tunnels are the sixth and seventh cross-border passageways
discovered in the San Diego area in less than four years, according to
the task force.
Since 2006,
federal authorities have detected at least 80 cross-border smuggling
tunnels, most of them in California and Arizona, and seized some 100
tons of narcotics associated with them.
No comments:
Post a Comment