Found: Elaborate Drug Tunnel With $30M In Cocaine, Marijuana
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Federal investigators in southern California say they found what could be the longest cross-border drug tunnel – leading to a massive drug bust worth nearly $30 million.
Video of the tunnel shows it is barely wide enough to squeeze a person through but that unassuming hole transforms into an elaborate underground maze.
The tunnel apparently stretches the length of more than eight football fields, from Tijuana in Mexico to San Diego.
Zigzagging for half a mile, the cramped, compact tunnel stretches across the U.S. Mexico border and investigators said it is an unprecedented drug smuggling system.
"We believe this to be the longest tunnel that we've discovered in this district to date," said United States Attorney Laura E. Duffy.
As part of a roughly 8-month investigation, federal agents seized more than 1 ton of cocaine and 7 tons of marijuana.
The tunnel stretched from Tijuana all the way to an industrial park in San Diego where the drugs were loaded.
Only about three feet wide, the tunnel was remarkably complex.
"Ten feet down in this hole it's really a completely different story… is equipped with a ventilation system, lights and on the Mexico side of the border…a commercial large elevator, an elevator that I would estimate could hold 8 to 10 people," said Duffy.
Investigators said this is the largest single seizure of cocaine related to a tunnel along the California-Mexico border.
Most of the cocaine smuggled into the U.S. comes in on small boats and even makeshift submarines.
Six people, including one U.S. citizen have been arrested in connection with this latest seizure and face drug trafficking charges.