San Diego.- The US authorities announced on Wednesday the discovery of the longest smuggling tunnel found on the southwest border, which runs a little over a kilometer from Tijuana, until San Diego.
The United States Office of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported that the tunnel originates in an industrial zone of Mexico and it extends for a total of 1.3 kilometers.
It includes an extensive rail system, forced ventilation, high voltage electrical cables and panels, an elevator at the tunnel entrance and a complex sewer system, the CBP said.
“While underground tunnels are not something new along the border between California and Mexico, the sophistication and length of this one in particular demonstrates the hard work that transnational criminal organizations undertake to facilitate cross-border smuggling, ”said Cardell T. Morant, interim special agent in charge of National Security investigations in San Diego.
After the discovery in August, Mexican authorities identified the tunnel entrance and some members of the San Diego Tunnel Operating Force began mapping it from Mexico, added the CBP.
The longest tunnel between U.S Y Mexico The record was discovered in San Diego in 2014 and was 904 meters long.
The newly discovered tunnel is about 1.68 meters high and 0.61 meters wide, and an average depth of about 21.3 meters below the surface, authorities said. They also pointed out that the tunnel was found in August 2019, after which the mapping of the area began to be carried out to determine the scope of the construction.
Agents found several hundred sandbags that blocked the alleged exit of the tunnel in a warehouse in the Otay Mesa district, in the United States.
The finding did not lead to any arrests or seizures.
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