TIJUANA - Federal authorities say that a half-mile, cross-border tunnel discovered in Otay Mesa is the longest drug tunnel to be found along the California-Mexico border ever.

The zig-zagging passage, which runs from a flophouse in Tijuana to a fenced-in lot advertised as a wooden pallet business, is estimated to be about 2,600 feet — or about nine football fields long. U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy said the tunnel was sophisticated, complete with railing and ventilation systems and lighting. On the Tijuana side, the tunnel ended at a large elevator that ascended into a closet in the house.

During the investigation, authorities seized 2,242 pounds of cocaine and 14,000 pounds of marijuana suspected of being transported through the tunnel into the United States. It was likely the largest single seizure of cocaine ever related to a tunnel on the California-Mexico border, Duffy said.

It’s the second “super tunnel” to be discovered in recent weeks, Duffy said. In March, authorities uncovered a 415-yard tunnel that connected a restaurant in Mexicali to a house in Calexico.

Six men have been arrested in connection with the Otay Mesa discovery, and face various charges including conspiracy to import and distribute cocaine and conspiracy to use a border tunnel. The suspects included one U.S. citizen, two Cuban asylum-seekers, and three Mexican nationals. One Mexican national was a legal resident and the other two had cards that allowed them to quickly cross the border.

Once the investigation of the tunnel is complete, it will be filled with cement.

The tunnel is the 13th large-scale drug smuggling tunnel to be discovered on the California border since 2006. More than 75 cross-border tunnels have been found in the last five years, most of them in California and Arizona. (Source: San Diego Union-Tribune)

Story Date: May 1, 2016