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See Inside the ‘Sophisticated’ CA Border Drug Tunnel Seized With 30 Tons of Pot

(The Blaze/AP)- Now you can get a peek into the massive California border tunnel that Mexican cartels used to smuggle drugs by the truckload.

The tunnel was discovered as part of the largest drug bust in the history of California when 30 tons of marijuana was seized earlier this week.

Incredible footage provided by KFSN-TV:

“It is clearly the most sophisticated, major tunnel that we have found in the last five years, perhaps ever,” said Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in San Diego. More details were expected Wednesday.

The tunnel discovered Tuesday links warehouses in San Diego and Tijuana, authorities said.

Mexican soldiers found the entrance on the south side of the border at a Tijuana warehouse after the U.S. opening was discovered. A photo released by U.S. authorities shows a hydraulic lift inside the Tijuana building.

Mexican soldiers guarded the two-story warehouse near the Tijuana airport as darkness fell. The white building had a broken window that was covered with paper and no exterior sign.

The Tijuana warehouse is on the same block as a federal police office and sits next to a packaging company and tortilla distributor.

The discovery comes less than two weeks after U.S. authorities found a 400-yard passage linking warehouses in San Diego and Tijuana, seizing 17 tons of marijuana on both sides of the border. It was equipped with lighting and ventilation.

As U.S. authorities heighten enforcement on land, tunnels have emerged as a major tack to smuggle marijuana. More than 70 have been found on the border since October 2008, surpassing the number of discoveries in the previous six years. Many are clustered around San Diego, California’s Imperial Valley and Nogales, Ariz.

California is popular because its clay-like soil is easy to dig with shovels. In Nogales, smugglers tap into vast underground drainage canals. Authorities said they found a drug tunnel Tuesday in Nogales, running from a drain in Mexico to a rented house on the U.S. side.

San Diego’s Otay Mesa area has the added draw that there are plenty of warehouses on both sides of the border to conceal trucks getting loaded with drugs. Its streets hum with semitrailers by day and fall silent on nights and weekends.

Raids last November on two tunnels linking San Diego and Tijuana netted a combined 52 tons of marijuana on both sides of the border, ranking among the largest pot busts in U.S. history. Those secret passages were lined with rail tracks, lighting and ventilation.

On Monday, a Mexican man was sentenced to nearly 16 years in prison for his role in last November’s tunnels. Prosecutors described Daniel Navarro, 45, as a significant player in moving marijuana from the San Diego warehouse and sought a 30-year prison sentence.

U.S. District Judge Larry Burns said Navarro, a legal U.S. resident since 1999 who worked as a trucker in Southern California, was “up to his hips” in smuggling the large marijuana loads.

“This is just a gigantic amount of marijuana,” Burns said.

Comments (75)

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  • Bruce_Almty
    Posted on December 1, 2011 at 2:37pm

    Dang, a week earlier and they could have discovered that 50 tons of coke that got through.

    Report Post » Bruce_Almty  
    • wbalzley
      Posted on December 1, 2011 at 4:20pm

      I remember a new report once about them doing just that…however, even with this seizure the price of cocaine did not rise even a single cent. This should give some kind of indication of the sheer volume of drugs being shipped into this country.

      Report Post »  
    • dnewton
      Posted on December 1, 2011 at 5:16pm

      Maybe they are smuggling people as well. There is not a problem with expanding and maintaining the drug infrastructure. I hope they did not disturb any endangered species.

      Report Post »  
    • KICKILLEGALSOUT
      Posted on December 1, 2011 at 9:44pm

      That must have been one of the tunnels the La Raza Department of Labor Hilda Solis got taxpayer funds to build. One more of those shovel ready jobs to aid the invasion and destruction of the US.

      Report Post » KICKILLEGALSOUT  
    • chazman
      Posted on December 2, 2011 at 1:58pm

      … I wonder how many murderin’ muslim terrorist came through that?

      Report Post »  
    • Mr Sanders
      Posted on December 2, 2011 at 3:42pm

      Its the FEMA tunnels – gotta be bringing it that way? (hahaha)

      Report Post » Mr Sanders  
  • td9463
    Posted on December 1, 2011 at 2:20pm

    Ok here we have an awesome example of whats wrong in the States. We make a God given plant illegal turn hard working non drinking americans into criminals in a system that is not built to curb use but to make more jobs for law enforcement, Do we need more cops? Do we need more laws? See we dont make laws to give people the right to not do an activity but to strip the right to do one, there is a reason you dont see old junkies,because self destructive behavior leads to SELF destruction ! This Government has become oppressive and tyranistic I believe we have an old faded piece of parchment with a certain ammendment pertaining to such an event. When we make laws and condemn issuse like marijuana are we not the same as the liberals or Michelle Obama telling us what to feed our kids? I DONT DRINK I dont do any drugs not even tylenol however I do smoke. This country needs to pull it head out of its rear and realize that lobbyists such as big booze and big pharma do not want it legal,,but hey sure is awesome guys can get hammered watching foozball every sunday than beat the crap of their wives from a completely legal man made substance. I will stick with Gods plan,,enjoying one of Gods most wonderful plants thank you

    Report Post »  
    • KidCharlemagne
      Posted on December 1, 2011 at 2:36pm

      td9463
      Posted on December 1, 2011 at 2:20pm

      Ok here we have an awesome example of whats wrong in the States. We make a God given plant illegal
      ====================================

      Is there any way to put God in handcuffs and make Him do the perp walk on national TV for being a narcotics manufacturer? (LOL!)

      Report Post »  
    • jaylew
      Posted on December 1, 2011 at 2:43pm

      I agree completely and have said it many time on this forum. The war on drugs is one of the biggest nastiest wastes of time and money ever. The only reason this kind of thing occurs is because of the profit motive. Remove the profit motive via decriminalization of all drug & narcotic vice….and treat the issues like they should be…as ones of a health matter. The second the quasi legalization occurs…the guns and billions of dollars disappear….on to find something else illegal to get rich off and for the enforcement industry to move on and follow that next failure. You would think by now that most cops and DEA agents are bored to tears over this entire thing….it is just so..“video gamish”

      Report Post » jaylew  
    • wbalzley
      Posted on December 1, 2011 at 4:24pm

      Go back and look at the history of the FDA and who lobbied for the banning of HEMP (marijuana). Big corporate interests in the lumber and cotton industries did not like competition from local hemp growers, and neither did our budding pharmaceutical industry…

      Report Post »  
    • dnewton
      Posted on December 1, 2011 at 5:24pm

      As soon as it is legalized, there will be a bunch of lobbyist trying to get government agricultural subsidies and maybe even some social justice catch up payments demanded. Once the price drops, the government might even make everyone smoke some so we don’t feel so funky about the mess Obama has made. We might even have to pay reparations for seizing this shipment and blunting the stimulus effect that it would have had.

      Report Post »  
    • bhohater
      Posted on December 1, 2011 at 6:04pm

      God gave us sex too, what about all the pedophiles that are in jail for enjoying it with kids? No dope, no kids, the government is trampling all over our rights.

      Report Post » bhohater  
    • jaylew
      Posted on December 2, 2011 at 4:48pm

      @BHO respectfully no one is trying to equate pedophilia with the comments about the tunnel and the war on drugs.In fact I don’t even touch reefer and sure would not want minors or kids to use it either. But even with the laws on reefer and other drugs kids still get to them and still use them & the only cure is knowledge and spreading accurate genuine factual information & treating illicit drug use as a health issue. The criminal route does not work & will never work. It has only served to create thousands of SWAT style policemen who bust in and tear down homes and apartments and basically are engaging in the very sort of thing that our forefathers NEVER wanted to happen to citizens unless ABSOLUTELY necessary…and I think a large section of our otherwise conservative citizenry would agree with me on this. I don’t touch the stuff but a couple years ago a SWAT type team blasted their way into the townhouse unit next to me and it was the wrong unit they did that to….that is unacceptable in every way. And pretty offensive to me….I almost came out with my Mossberg and I can only imagine if I had I would have been killed instantly by one of the 30 plus cops who surrounded the WRONG townhouse to enforce their little reefer warrant. Its preposterous…and once the profit motive is removed the cartels and the enforcement industry can all go find something else more important to battle over….I don’t think adults should be told what to do with other consenting adults.

      Report Post » jaylew  
  • Duddio
    Posted on December 1, 2011 at 1:18pm

    I wonder if we’re not making the same mistakes we did with Prohibition….

    http://rightrevrowland.com/2011/12/should-america-legalize-cannabis/

    Report Post »  
    • right-wing-waco
      Posted on December 1, 2011 at 2:09pm

      I have come to the same belief. We spend “BILLIONS” trying to keep these drugs illegal. If we just legalized them and made them available at drug stores, (made by the drug companies so the dose and purity would be safe), we could return the tax money to the people and tell the DEA and related agencies to go get a productive job. If i was legal the cartels would not have a purpose to exist.

      And NO, I don‘t want people taking drugs but we haven’t been able to stop them in te last 30 years.

      Report Post »  
    • Jefferson
      Posted on December 1, 2011 at 2:33pm

      Oh yeah. A fence is going to help. Suuure it is.

      As long as there is a demand, there will ALWAYS be a supply.

      Put the military on our borders like Ron Paul wants to do, and let the states deal with pot laws, and regulate it like alcohol.
      Let local growers inject BILLIONS of dollars into our local economies, rather than it go to some drug lords south of the border.
      Prohibition only strengthens those who are trying to supply it, because it makes it so profitable.

      Why do you think they are building submarines now to get it into our country?

      Google Cele Castillo and the book powderburns. Iran Contra as well.

      Report Post »  
    • oldschoolgreen
      Posted on December 1, 2011 at 2:56pm

      I got no problem with that, but I want a zero tolerance policy for abuse. You sell to a minor once you go the chair. You get caught operating any kind of machine or vehicle once you go to jail for a long time. You become a habitual, you go to gitmo forever where will give you all the crack you want, for free. Most folks wouldn’t last a year. I voted for legalizing weed in Cali because its a freakin’ weed. It used to be called ditch weed cause it grew in the ditches at the sides of the road until they started using herbacides.

      Report Post »  
  • bullcrapbuster
    Posted on December 1, 2011 at 1:04pm

    So they seized a couple of days supply of MJ. How can it be so hard and take so long to find these huge tunnels?

    Report Post » bullcrapbuster  
    • Ne_FAL
      Posted on December 1, 2011 at 6:59pm

      Why is it so hard to find a tunnel ? First you have a building on the Mexican side of the border ,you paint all the windows black & keep the doors closed so noisy parkers can’t see in.

      Then you use a concrete saw & sledge hammers to bust thru the floor down to bare dirt . Then you dig straight down 20 -30 feet putting your dirt in barrels to be hauled away in straight trucks & dumped & the barrels returned.
      When you get down deep enough you use a map /compass surveyors theodolite to determine exactly which direction to dig side ways, all the while keeping your mouth shut about what is going on inside your building.

      From the surface it looks like you are running a honest business with trucks going to & from your business & every day your tunnel gets a little closer to the other side of the border.
      You pay your tunnel guys a good wage & provide excellent food cause it’s hard work & if they talk you kill them.

      That is why it is hard to find these tunnel.

      Report Post »  
    • Apple Bite
      Posted on December 2, 2011 at 12:19pm

      It’s not hard if you try to find them. going underground doesn’t protect them from ground sensors. Real issue here is that California‘s elected politicians aren’t trying to do anything about them. They haven’t mandated anything towards finding these drug smugglers, they need them for votes and monetary support. There’s no other real explanation for why these smugglers can get away with it. Give them money and watch them turn their heads with ears covered.

      Report Post » Apple Bite  
  • LB
    Posted on December 1, 2011 at 12:53pm

    I wonder what and who else is coming through that tunnel?

    Report Post » LB  
  • BigSaltyCracker
    Posted on December 1, 2011 at 12:47pm

    Wonder if that napolitano dude holder and her corrupt buddies can fit in there.Have them feel if back in shovel by shovel.

    Report Post »  
  • B-Neil
    Posted on December 1, 2011 at 12:18pm

    Put some mines in the tunnels. Let the honest Mexicans blow up the tunnel for us. Who’s gonna know to bit-h?? CARRY ON McDUFF

    Report Post »  
  • Robert-CA
    Posted on December 1, 2011 at 12:14pm

    it’s funny how all the reports are avoiding to mention how many terrorists did use these tunnels .
    Are you telling me that only drugs went through these tunnels ??????
    Yeah right .

    Report Post » Robert-CA  
  • capecodsully
    Posted on December 1, 2011 at 12:05pm

    Imagine all the weapons and terrorists that have come through that tunnel. al qaeda money sure does pay for some pretty fancy digs.

    Report Post »  
    • KidCharlemagne
      Posted on December 1, 2011 at 12:14pm

      That’s probably as far-fetched a notion as I have ever heard and if you really stop and think about it then you will realize why:

      #1 drugs go north into U.S.
      #2 cash resulting from sales goes south into Mexico

      If you start smuggling al-qaeda into the US, then they are a threat to kill your customers…and no more customers = no more sales = no more money..

      It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to solve that equation.

      Report Post »  
  • YoungBloodNews
    Posted on December 1, 2011 at 12:02pm

    Uh oh, I know where the occupiers are headed next!

    FREE WEED IN BORDER TUNNELS!!!!

    Report Post » YoungBloodNews  
  • abbygirl1994
    Posted on December 1, 2011 at 11:45am

    What I want to see is a video of it being blown to smithereens… They always show us then never tell us what they did with the pot or the tunnel. And another thing this Mexican man was sentenced to 16 years in whose prison?? Why should we house an illegal.. and why should he be in prison in the finest of prisons when he should be imprisoned in a prison in Mexico… oh yeah cause if he was in prison there.. the corrupt Caulderon would let him free to do the same exact same thing.. I really don’t think American taxpayers should be paying to imprison a illegal. God help us!

    Report Post » abbygirl1994  
    • Detroit paperboy
      Posted on December 1, 2011 at 11:57am

      Who cares , we are too busy borrowing money from China to protect South Korea…… From China. We have lost our minds !!!!

      Report Post »  
    • Hobbs57
      Posted on December 1, 2011 at 12:10pm

      Article says he is has been an American citizen since 1999. Quite honestly, they should just legalize the marijuana. I am a recovering addict and still suggest that they should do it. Imagine the tax dollars we would rake in on this stuff. I am also in college at 36, I will tell you pot is everywhere, it always has been. SO why not just legalize if it is making it here anyways. The main reason weed is a gateway drug is not because it leads to other drug use so much as it is the first step into the world of illegal activity. No kidding. When I got sober and was in rehab, they asked if there was anything that you could take back that you did what would it be. I said I would take back smoking weed the first time. Not because it led to other drugs, because it will, but because it introduced me to breaking that moral integrity of doing nothing illegal. Once I broke that integrity, I it was then us against them. It is in this community of people I found countless other illegal activity’s once my addiction had progressed to the place it had. Just legalize it, tax it and be done with it. Trust me, pot is much less harmful than alcohol. I mean extensively greater. I understand what people are afraid of, but you have to understand, it is happening anyways. Just my opinion.

      Report Post » Hobbs57  
  • cemerius
    Posted on December 1, 2011 at 11:42am

    They refill these tunnels with cement after they are discoverd, I say molten steele!! Of course, this re-enforces my belief that we should “occupy” 2 miles South of the Rio Grande and bull doze EVERYTHING!! That would make an amazing mine field and no-man’s land!

    Report Post » cemerius  
  • nobull14
    Posted on December 1, 2011 at 11:33am

    Are borders are secure ??????????

    Report Post »  
  • integrican
    Posted on December 1, 2011 at 11:20am

    Need that new “income stream?” legalize weed and tax it!!! 25 years or older and only in your home. I know some will say “the kids will get it” News flash: They already do!!!

    Note: I’m not a “pauly”

    Report Post » integrican  
    • jbh
      Posted on December 1, 2011 at 11:28am

      Please tell me you have a better understanding of what it does to the lungs, brain and overall body????????? And people think it would be good to legalize????? Is everyone going crazy in the US.

      JBH

       
    • coryf076
      Posted on December 1, 2011 at 11:29am

      Finally, some people are getting it. Look at all that revenue, imagine the labor and man hours spent trying uncover this operation. If the govt would just step in and treat/regulate it like alcohol we could SAVE the tax payers on one end and increase revenues on another. Who care about…the kids will get it…newsflash….they already do!!!

      Report Post »  
    • Detroit paperboy
      Posted on December 1, 2011 at 12:16pm

      @integrican
      They wont legalize it because the law enforcement community is getting rich off these busts, but i agree, everybody who wants to enjoy weed, is enjoying weed… Prohibition does not , never did , and never will work…. Weed is everywhere, Doctors, lawyers and yes even cop friends of mine smoke it , if and when they want it, and eveybody knows, the cops have the best weed !!!

      Report Post »  
    • Sheepdog69
      Posted on December 1, 2011 at 12:23pm

      This stuff was being smuggled over the border by the drug cartels. Do you honestly think if we “legalize and tax it” they will all of a sudden willingly pay taxes on it? “Hey Uncle Sam, I’m smuggling weed across your border, here’s you share of the money”. Nope, wont happen. There will simply be a black market. It’s like a padlock. Only keeps the honest people out.

      Report Post » Sheepdog69  
    • KidCharlemagne
      Posted on December 1, 2011 at 3:02pm

      Sheepdog69
      Posted on December 1, 2011 at 12:23pm

      This stuff was being smuggled over the border by the drug cartels. Do you honestly think if we “legalize and tax it” they will all of a sudden willingly pay taxes on it? “Hey Uncle Sam, I’m smuggling weed across your border, here’s you share of the money”. Nope, wont happen. There will simply be a black market. It’s like a padlock. Only keeps the honest people out.
      ==============================================================

      When is the last time you ever heard about a gang/cartel/organized crime smuggling Budweiser across the border into the U.S. in order to avoid paying taxes on it??

      If what you say is true, then the cartels would already be smuggling Budweiser into the U.S. to avoid paying taxes on it, but yet you never hear anything about it…

      Why do you suppose that is?

      Report Post »  
    • macpappy
      Posted on December 1, 2011 at 7:30pm

      @sheepdog69
      Where have you seen a smuggler, or pusher, work for 8%. Do you really think that they would smuggle dope just to save the taxes? Decriminalize it, tax it, and the underground market dies immediately. The answer is legalization, regulation, taxation; where is the down side of that.

      Report Post » macpappy  
  • Zombee
    Posted on December 1, 2011 at 11:15am

    Legalize it,regulate it and tax it. Taxpayer dollars wasted on the War On Drugs this Year so far :$13,900,000 Federal, $23,600,000 States, Total: $37,500,000 and counting. Prohibition never works, it only encourages criminal enterprise.

    Report Post » Zombee  
  • Anonymous T. Irrelevant
    Posted on December 1, 2011 at 10:59am

    I’m not sure if they use ground radar to find tunnels along the border. If not, why not? One reason, I guess, would be the amount of ground they’d have to cover, but start somewhere.

    Report Post » Anonymous T. Irrelevant  
  • booger71
    Posted on December 1, 2011 at 10:51am

    Because Barry’s EPA has shut down much of the mining industry, the mining engineers had to go so place.

    Report Post » booger71  
  • Fina Biscotti
    Posted on December 1, 2011 at 10:47am

    This tunnel could be the place that ACORN employees in San Diego – were intending to use – for human trafficking – when ACORN employees offered assistance to undercover New Media Journalists – to be able to smuggle child prostitutes into The USA – when ACORN was approached to assist in the purchase of a house to run a child prostitution ring – and ACORN was busted when giving advice on how to hide income from banks and the IRS for an illegal enterprise.

    Report Post »  
  • KidCharlemagne
    Posted on December 1, 2011 at 10:35am

    Some things never change:

    “The effects of Prohibition were largely unanticipated. Production, importation, and distribution of alcoholic beverages — once the province of legitimate business — were taken over by criminal gangs, which fought each other for market control in violent confrontations, including mass murder. Major gangsters, such as Omaha‘s Tom Dennison and Chicago’s Al Capone, became rich and were admired locally and nationally. Enforcement was difficult because the gangs became so rich they were often able to bribe underpaid and understaffed law-enforcement personnel and pay for expensive lawyers. Many citizens were sympathetic to bootleggers, and respectable citizens were lured by the romance of illegal speakeasies, also called “blind pigs”. The loosening of social mores during the 1920s included popularizing the cocktail and the cocktail party among higher socio-economic groups. Those inclined to help authorities were often intimidated, even murdered. In several major cities — notably those that served as major points of liquor importation (including Chicago and Detroit) — gangs wielded significant political power.”
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volstead_Act

    I think we oughta’ just go the whole nine yards and just make Budweiser illegal again too since it worked so great the 1st time around.

    Report Post »  
  • momrules
    Posted on December 1, 2011 at 10:26am

    While I hate the drug cartels and the violence they bring into America I fear the Islamic jihadists even more. I wonder how many of these have been smuggled into the U.S. along with whatever weapons they might bring.

    I doubt Mexican drug cartels ask too many questions regarding Muslim intentions when there is large amounts of money to be made.

    Report Post »  
  • Delta_River_Folk
    Posted on December 1, 2011 at 10:17am

    This is a great example of why Rick Perry’s comment (about building a fence will not stop illegal aliens from crossing the border) IS TRUE.

    Report Post »  
  • macpappy
    Posted on December 1, 2011 at 10:17am

    Decriminalize it, and it will cease to be a problem; just like whiskey.

    Report Post » macpappy  
    • EqualJustice
      Posted on December 1, 2011 at 10:28am

      Yah, because drugs so SO much good for a community and it’s people? Please….

      Report Post » EqualJustice  
    • macpappy
      Posted on December 1, 2011 at 10:43am

      So, a pot head slighted you somehow? You know pot was legal, before it was illegal; and they had no problem with it. The religious folks pushed against it, much like prohibition. they invented a proplem, and now have made an industry out of it. If you live in a community of home owners, I doubt many potheads live there. If you live in a intercity area with high crime, and aggresive pot heads, “whatever that is” so some gumption and move. Pot smokers are not a problem in this country; it is the war on pot smokers that is costing so much, destroying familes, and caging it’s citizens for a victimless crime.
      I do not advocate decriminalizing all drugs…..they should do away with Cialis, Viagra, Prozac, Ritlan, and all the other non essential medical drugs that they allow companies “push” on folks everyday.
      More people die from script drugs than illegal drugs, more people are “hooked” on script drugs than illegal drugs.
      Pot = BAD Valium = GOOD…………Please

      Report Post » macpappy  
    • nobummer12
      Posted on December 1, 2011 at 1:25pm

      I agree. Stop wasting money on it.

      Report Post » nobummer12  
  • EqualJustice
    Posted on December 1, 2011 at 10:10am

    OH, you mean THAT border? The one Janet keeps telling is SO MUCH MORE SECURE NOW?? I wonder how many TERRORISTS tunneled their way in? Meanwhile, back at the airports…

    Report Post » EqualJustice  
  • arfarb55
    Posted on December 1, 2011 at 10:07am

    Pot is not the ONLY thing that can be smuggled into our country via these tunnels! Satchel charges are needed here.

    Report Post » arfarb55  
    • sawbuck
      Posted on December 1, 2011 at 10:12am

      I agree….
      My guess is we have cells all over the place in this country.
      Just waiting for that right moment.

      Report Post » sawbuck  
    • arfarb55
      Posted on December 1, 2011 at 10:15am

      Booby Trap a few of these and the smugglers would not be so willing to crawl through them.

      Report Post » arfarb55  
  • sawbuck
    Posted on December 1, 2011 at 10:05am

    Somewhere there are a group of Ron Paul supporters
    Just a Crying their eyes out…

    Some…Just a group…Not all

    Report Post » sawbuck  
    • macpappy
      Posted on December 1, 2011 at 10:18am

      It won’t be so bad, cuz most Ron Paul supporters that would be sad, have their own gardens anyway

      Report Post » macpappy  
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