Federal investigators this week found a 612-yard long passageway connecting a warehouse in San Diego to a warehouse in Tijuana, Mexico that they say is “the most elaborate smuggling tunnel uncovered along the U.S.-Mexico border in recent years.”
The tunnel is equipped “with electric rail cars, lighting, reinforced walls and wooden floors,” according to U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. From an ICE press release:
On the Mexican side, the tunnel’s entrance is accessed through a hydraulically-controlled steel door and an elevator concealed beneath the warehouse floor [Ed. note: pictured here]. At the bottom of the tunnel shaft is a large storage room where agents recovered approximately three tons of marijuana. Another ton of marijuana was piled in bundles near the tunnel’s entrance. Meanwhile, investigators searched the Otay Mesa building that housed the tunnel’s U.S. entry point, where they found another 20 tons of marijuana wrapped in plastic and stacked neatly on pallets.
In the video below, ICE agents tour the tunnel and cart off the marijuana sized at the warehouse.
Some photos of the tunnel, from ICE:
Ryan J. Reilly
Ryan J. Reilly is a D.C.-based reporter for TPM. Prior to joining TPM, he worked for a news website covering the Justice Department and was a researcher for Bloomberg News. His email address is ryan(at)talkingpointsmemo.com.
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