Drug Smuggling Tunnels Gave Mexican Cartels Virtually Unlimited Access to an Arizona Strip Mall
- Posted on July 12, 2012 at 10:27pm by
Jason Howerton
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PHOENIX (AP) – Two drug-smuggling tunnels outfitted with lighting and ventilation systems were discovered along the U.S.-Mexico border, the latest signs that cartels are building sophisticated passages to escape heightened surveillance on land.
(Related: Mexican Army Finds Clandestine Smuggling Tunnel Under Arizona Border)
Both tunnels were at least 150 yards long. One began under a bathroom sink inside a warehouse in Tijuana but was unfinished and didn’t cross the border into San Diego. The Mexican army found the tunnel Wednesday.
In this undated photo provided by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, shows a 240-yard, a complete and fully operational drug smuggling tunnel, from the U.S. side of the tunnel, that ran from a small business in Arizona to an ice plant on the Mexico side of the border, Thursday, July 12, 2012, in San Luis, Ariz.(AP Photo/Drug Enforcement Administration)
In this undated photo provided by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, shows the tunnel shaft entrance on the U.S. side of a 240-yard, complete and fully operational drug smuggling tunnel that ran from a small business in Arizona to an ice plant on the Mexico side of the border, Thursday, July 12, 2012, in San Luis, Ariz.(AP Photo/Drug Enforcement Administration)
The other was completed and discovered Saturday in a vacant strip mall storefront in the southwestern Arizona city of San Luis. It showed a level of sophistication not typically associated with other crude smuggling passageways that tie into storm drains in the state.
“When you see what is there and the way they designed it, it wasn’t something that your average miner could put together,” said Douglas Coleman, special agent in charge of the Phoenix division of the Drug Enforcement Administration. “You would need someone with some engineering expertise to put something together like this.”
As U.S. authorities heighten enforcement on land, tunnels have become an increasingly common way to smuggle enormous loads of heroin, marijuana and other drugs into the country. More than 70 passages have been found on the border since October 2008, surpassing the number of discoveries in the previous six years.
A total of 156 secret tunnels have been found along the border since 1990, the vast majority of them incomplete.
Raids last November on two tunnels linking San Diego and Tijuana netted a combined 52 tons of marijuana on both sides of the border. In early December 2009, authorities found an incomplete tunnel that stretched nearly 900 feet into San Diego from Tijuana, equipped with an elevator at the Mexican entrance.
The latest Arizona tunnel was discovered after state police pulled over a man who had 39 pounds of methamphetamine in his vehicle and mentioned the strip mall.
The tunnel was found beneath a water tank in a storage room and stretched across the border to an ice-plant business in the Mexican city of San Luis Rio Colorado. It was reinforced with four-by-six beams and lined with plywood.
Investigators believe the tunnel wasn’t in operation for long because there was little wear on its floor, and 55-gallon drums containing extracted dirt hadn’t been removed from the property.
In this undated photo provided by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, shows floor shaft entrance from a storage room that was a 240-yard, a complete and fully operational drug smuggling tunnel that ran from a small business in Arizona to an ice plant on the Mexico side of the border, Thursday, July 12, 2012, in San Luis, Ariz.(AP Photo/Drug Enforcement Administration)
In this undated photo provided by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, shows the tunnel shaft entrance on the U.S. side of a 240-yard, complete and fully operational drug smuggling tunnel that ran from a small business in Arizona to an ice plant on the Mexico side of the border, Thursday, July 12, 2012, in San Luis, Ariz.(AP Photo/Drug Enforcement Administration)
In this undated photo provided by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, shows 39 pounds of methamphetamine smuggled through a 240-yard, complete and fully operational drug smuggling tunnel that ran from a small business in Arizona to an ice plant on the Mexico side of the border, Thursday, July 12, 2012, in San Luis, Ariz.(AP Photo/Drug Enforcement Administration)
Coleman said investigators can’t yet say for sure if the tunnel, estimated to cost $1.5 million to build, was operated by the powerful Sinaloa cartel. Still, authorities suspect cartel involvement because the group from Sinaloa controls smuggling routes into Arizona.
“Another cartel wasn’t going to roll into that area and put down that kind of money in Sinaloa territory,” Coleman said. “Nobody is going to construct this tunnel without significant cartel leadership knowing what’s going on.”
U.S. authorities were investigating the Tijuana tunnel for three months, said Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Authorities found no connections to the smuggling operation involving the Arizona passageway.
The Tijuana tunnel was discovered inside a building advertised as a recycling plant in an area where industrial warehouses are common on both sides of the border.
(AP Photo)
This image provided Thursday July 12, 2012, by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement shows a tunnel discovered by authorities designed to smuggle drugs into the United States, found in Tijuana, Mexico. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman said Thursday that the approximately 220-yard passage was lit and ventilated. It began under a bathroom sink inside a warehouse and did not cross the border into San Diego.(AP Photo/ICE)
The Mexican army said two tractor-trailers were found inside the warehouse, along with shovels, drills, pickaxes, buckets and other excavation tools.
The Mexican army estimated the tunnel was about 150 yards long and more than 10 yards underground. The walls were lined with dirt and wide enough for one person to get through comfortably.
It takes six months to a year to build a tunnel, authorities say. Workers use shovels and pickaxes to slowly dig through the soil, sleeping in buildings where the tunnels begin until the job is done. Sometimes they use pneumatic tools.
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Comments (65)
Dont_eat_me_bro
Posted on July 13, 2012 at 7:53amThose Mexercans did some pretty good work! Why can’t our illegal Mexercans work with so much craftsmanship? We must get all the stupid ones……
Report Post »Gonzo
Posted on July 13, 2012 at 1:02pmThey actually do work hard and well, for the most part. They are far better than present day American youth who once did the jobs that the Mexicans now perform.
Report Post »historyguy48
Posted on July 13, 2012 at 7:36amComrades they were merely very dedicated shoppers, that’s all!
Report Post »Coming to a shore near you soon, one use drug smuggling submarines!
Enjoy a pleasant underwater cruise along Americas shores and further the profits of such wonerful people as the Zeta’s!
Good pay for little work!
No death benefits!
TH30PH1LUS
Posted on July 13, 2012 at 10:29amObama’s Dream Act in progress.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBzR3DGOSso
Report Post »piper60
Posted on July 13, 2012 at 7:27amO.K., so they are finding all these tunnels. Then what? Do we blow said tunnels up? Or would that be too politically incorrect?
Report Post »Mike N
Posted on July 13, 2012 at 12:48pmLet’s export our drug users . . . then the cartels will see how profitable it is to do business in the USA.
Report Post »mtsnj
Posted on July 13, 2012 at 6:54amWe just found out where the infrastructure stimulus money went..
Report Post »lukerw
Posted on July 13, 2012 at 4:51amWe seem to be the SAPS of the Sappers!
Report Post »dynaboy
Posted on July 13, 2012 at 3:49amNo you are not looking at tunnels you are dreaming go back to sleep nothing to see move along.HO yah did I tell you our borders are the safestany where ,no one is smuggeling drugs or people into US.Thank God that we have Obama as our Pres he is protecting us with great care or is it CAIRE as muslim brotherhoodooh who knows thats why I watch MSNBC cause they never lie to us…the joke is not what I typed it is that people do believe this bull crap
Report Post »tommyg524
Posted on July 13, 2012 at 7:37amCredit default swaps have existed since the early 1990s, and increased in use after 2003. By the end of 2007, the outstanding CDS amount was $62.2 trillion,[4] falling to $26.3 trillion by mid-year 2010[5] but reportedly $25.5[6] trillion in early 2012.[7]
CDSs are not traded on an exchange and there is no required reporting of transactions to a government agency. This proof enough
that there NEEDS to be regulation, a check system on greed and abuse. It is also indicative that by early 2012, nothing has changed, and there still is no accountability, just a bunch of anemic talk about investigations. In other words, the Fox is watching the henhouse, and will investigate the brother fox when he gets a moment.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/money-power-wall-street/#b
Report Post »showlocindy
Posted on July 13, 2012 at 1:57amHope those Drones can see underground.
Report Post »spikebu
Posted on July 13, 2012 at 2:33amI don’t.
Report Post »spikebu
Posted on July 13, 2012 at 3:21amDo you really want ANYBODY sifting through your underwear drawer?
Report Post »knownothing76
Posted on July 13, 2012 at 1:32amThis must be how Holder was getting guns to his people in Mexico. Fast and Furious tunnel digging
Report Post »wordweaver
Posted on July 13, 2012 at 1:11amYeah, okay, this keeps happening, and every time it does, I’m sitting there thinking, “Why do we allow buildings and strip malls or whatever to be built within 100 yds of the border?” We should have like a half mile wide DMZ with no buildings, no vegetations, no nothing but flat dirt. And if Mexico is serious about this thing, then they should have the same thing going on on their side. Then at least these tunnel guys would have to really work for it. It just seems kind of lame that we allow someone to build a warehouse right up against the border to provide the perfect tunnel exit. Is this unreasonable? These cartel guys must laugh themselves to sleep every night at how easy it is.
Report Post »spikebu
Posted on July 13, 2012 at 2:44amAnd yet, you get stopped at “checkpoints”, well away from the border, just so they can ask you if you are a US citizen. I’m really confused. The Federal Government has made its policy clear. Illegal immigration is OKAY. Why are they setting up “checkpoints” a hundred miles from the border? They aren’t looking for illegals. What are they looking for?
Report Post »spikebu
Posted on July 13, 2012 at 3:06amIsn’t this what they were so concerned about with the Arizona law? I guess it’s okay to detain and ask actual citizens. As long as the illegals aren’t inconvenienced.
Report Post »soap on a rope
Posted on July 13, 2012 at 1:00amThe border is more secure than ever!
Report Post »Gamaliel
Posted on July 13, 2012 at 12:47amThe shock here is that Diane Sawyer is reporting this!
Report Post »SilentReader
Posted on July 13, 2012 at 12:39amWhat this Obama administration is allowing to happen at the border is treason. This is unbelievable treachery.
Report Post »wdittgasn
Posted on July 13, 2012 at 1:14amDo you see the sophistication of the tunnel, I would wager that O’s administration built it.
Report Post »JACKTHETOAD
Posted on July 13, 2012 at 1:42amYou got that right, Angry Bird. It’s almost as nice as my house. WTF??
Report Post »MAMMY_NUNN
Posted on July 13, 2012 at 12:35pmDrug dealers are just community organizers if they don’t have what you want they know where to get it.
Report Post »Detroit paperboy
Posted on July 13, 2012 at 12:05amThe Obama justice department will file a federal suit against whoever discovered this tunnel, they are infringing on Hispanics rights to sell drugs and freely move about the nation as they please………
Report Post »The-Monk
Posted on July 13, 2012 at 12:25amI think the progressives call it “social mobility”…..
Report Post »Meyvn
Posted on July 12, 2012 at 11:42pmSome people in high places have to be turning a blind eye to this kind of crap or there is no way they could get away with such BS.
Report Post »TexasHunter
Posted on July 13, 2012 at 12:28amObama, he was golfing when the letter blew off his desk. He was on vacation in Hawaii when they tried to call him about it. He was in the oval office when they visited him and he said just blame it on Bush.
Report Post »AmericanPatriot
Posted on July 13, 2012 at 1:53amWonder how much Stimulus money went to build this. Isn’t there a type of radar or xray that can penetrate the ground and show the presence of these tunnels?
Report Post »SHOWMESTATEGUY
Posted on July 12, 2012 at 11:35pmI wonder how many votes all that drug money buys in the USA? I think I’ll write Holder a letter and ask. I would bet he knows.
Report Post »wdittgasn
Posted on July 13, 2012 at 1:15amHe will never tell you.
Report Post »RightPolitically
Posted on July 12, 2012 at 11:33pmYa gotta love their tenacity. Other than being illegal, the drug trade seems to be a perfect capitalist venture. No matter what obstacles get put in the way, a good company (cartel) finds a way to win.
Report Post »AmazingGrace8
Posted on July 13, 2012 at 1:37pmIt would be funny if the workers started to demand/create a union for “tunnel-workers”. Demand health care/dental/retirement benefits…lol…..ya,right…the cartel would listen to these demands..NOT!!!
Report Post »RightPolitically
Posted on July 12, 2012 at 11:21pmBut Janet said the borders were more secure not than ever before. That tunnel‘s gotta be a figment of your lyin’ eyes. Just ask her!
Report Post »TreeTrimmerJim
Posted on July 13, 2012 at 1:10amIf the number of people caught decreases does that automatically translate into there are less people attempting? Janet might be in the fewer caught less people attempting camp.
Closing a few border patrol stations could produce few people caught, which would booster the apparent increased effectiveness claims this administration claims.
Sometimes the information put out by this administration seems to assume not one would question the information because they assume we were all educated in the Chicago area.
Anyone else get that impression?
Report Post »FatFreedom
Posted on July 12, 2012 at 11:01pmWe should just legalize drugs and put the thugs out of business. The prices would drop as would crime. We cannot afford the cost in $’s and lives.
I would not start doing drugs if they became legal! I know of many that ruined their life on drugs, and they did while it was illegal.
Report Post »RightPolitically
Posted on July 12, 2012 at 11:34pmA point well taken.
Report Post »mrmikejohnson
Posted on July 12, 2012 at 10:47pm“It takes six months to a year to build a tunnel, authorities say.”
Report Post »———————–
When you have non-union construction workers, things can get done fast. It takes my city’s construction workers six months to a year to repair the pavement at one small intersection.
TheEDGE
Posted on July 12, 2012 at 11:04pmWe must live in the same city.
Report Post »MontanaRob
Posted on July 12, 2012 at 11:04pmGeez, you must live here too!*
*(applies most everywhere in US now, sad to say)
Report Post »mharry860
Posted on July 12, 2012 at 11:07pmThat crossed my mind. Here in Spokane, they’ve been redoing intersections in concrete. It’s a minimum of 3 months, one intersection.
Report Post »MAMMY_NUNN
Posted on July 13, 2012 at 12:41pmDon’t think for a minute that unions have no interest in the drug trade they are very interested.
Report Post »Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on July 12, 2012 at 10:45pmAnd the idiot of the White House declares the border secure; deactivates most of the border guard stations and is shown once again to be a fool, narcissist, liar and completely delusional.
Report Post »wdittgasn
Posted on July 13, 2012 at 1:19amO is purposely trying to destroy this country.
Report Post »TheEDGE
Posted on July 12, 2012 at 10:44pmAnyone think it was only for drugs? That thing probably looked like the line for Splash Mountain at one point. Fresh democrat voters.
Report Post »marine249
Posted on July 12, 2012 at 11:05pmYou beat me to it.
Report Post »[Fresh domorat voters]
lylejk
Posted on July 12, 2012 at 10:43pmOf course nobody was jailed because of this finding. Next time show me some folk who’s going to jail too please. They should have set up a few police stings with this one too, but of course oh no. Let the drug cartel go off scott free once again with no arrests. Sick and tired of just seeing tunnels. Now that you shared your discovery, blow the thing completely up please. Can’t be used anymore now that you told the world. :)
Report Post »TexasHunter
Posted on July 13, 2012 at 12:43amThe feds were watching the tunnel for two to three months! I guess they wanted to make sure all the guns were transported over, and all illegals here.
Report Post »Thanks Owebama for 4king us Americans over again.
MAMMY_NUNN
Posted on July 13, 2012 at 12:48pmConfiscate all products coming and going giving the cartels a net loss sooner or later they would get the point.
Report Post »chips1
Posted on July 12, 2012 at 10:41pmThe Broker companies load a trailer at their business’ and then a truck tractor drives in and hooks up and away they go. The Brokers are only 200 feet from the fence to Mexico. It’s been going on for years. Law enforcement are told by their supervisors to ignore it.
Report Post »mrmikejohnson
Posted on July 12, 2012 at 10:39pmThis exact thing was in the show “Weeds” like 4 seasons ago. This stuff is more common than you might think.
Report Post »18666929374
Posted on July 12, 2012 at 10:35pmInstead of a wall/fence along the boarder why do we dig a 12ft x 12ft ditch.
Report Post »gosutag
Posted on July 12, 2012 at 10:58pmBest idea I’ve heard so far. We should just literally dig to the bottom and then put a fence on our side. So if they attempt to jump over it’s impossible they just fall to their death. Will have a lot of bodies down there.
Report Post »THX-1138
Posted on July 13, 2012 at 9:59amI have a better solution: legalize all drugs.
Just because some of us can‘t handle Freedom doesn’t mean you have the right to take it from all of us.
Legalize it. Tax it. Use that money to educate people about what their abuse is doing to them and those around them. Those who use drugs like most people use alcohol or tobacco don’t ruin their lives or the lives of others (they just waste their own time and money).
In short, it’s none of my damn business what you smoke in the privacy of your own home. If it makes you stupid enough to come into my home to try to rob me then you should probably leave it alone…
Children need to be told what to do.
Report Post »Freedom is for grownups.