Page 2 - AT

A2 UP FRONT
Thursday 30 January 2020

Authorities find longest Southwest

border smuggling tunnel

Continued from Front was 2,966 feet (904 meters) "The sophistication and
long. length of this particular
The tunnel raised ques- The newly discovered tun- tunnel demonstrates the
tions about the effective- nel is about 5.5 feet (1.68 time-consuming efforts
ness of President Donald meters) tall and 2 feet (0.61 transnational criminal or-
Trump's border wall, which meters) wide and runs at ganizations will undertake
stretches several feet un- an average depth of 70 to facilitate cross-border
derground in the area. The feet (21.3 meters) below smuggling," said Cardell
tunnel was found about 70 the surface, officials said. T. Morant, acting special
feet underground, well be- Agents discovered several agent in charge of Home-
low the wall. hundred sandbags block- land Security Investigations
Following the discovery in ing a suspected former exit in San Diego.
August, Mexican law en- of the tunnel in the Otay Authorities have found 15
forcement identified the Mesa warehouse district sophisticated tunnels on
entrance and members of within the U.S. California's border with
the San Diego Tunnel Task While there were no arrests, Mexico since 2006, with
Force began mapping the drug seizures or confirmed hallmarks including light-
This undated photo provided by the Drug Enforcement tunnel that extends a total exit point in the United ing, ventilation, railway
Administration shows what is believed to be the longest of 4,309 feet. (1,313 me- States, the length — more tracks and hydraulic lifts.
smuggling tunnel between Mexico and the U.S. Authorities have ters). The next longest tun- than 14 football fields — The tunnels are concen-
announced the discovery of the longest smuggling tunnel ever
found on the Southwest border. nel in the U.S. was discov- stunned authorities. It went trated in an area where
Associated Press ered in San Diego in 2014. It under several warehouses clay-like soil is conducive
in the Otay Mesa area, to digging and industrial
where sophisticated tun- warehouses provide cover.
nels have typically ended, The latest tunnel was dis-
and extended into open covered by Mexican au-
fields. thorities in a Tijuana parking
U.S. authorities say they are lot for cargo trucks, next to
confident that the tunnel the city's airport.
exited in San Diego at one U.S. authorities mapped its
time, based on its trajec- course, drilled a hole on
tory. the U.S. side and lowered
LeNoir, a veteran on a multi- a camera to determine
agency task force of tunnel where to start making their
investigators known as "tun- way through.
nel rats," said he made his "It was endless," LeNoir
way through about 50 feet said.
of sugar sacks blocking the Authorities didn't say who
tunnel but couldn't go any they believe was behind
farther. the tunnel but the area
An incomplete offshoot of has been a stronghold of
the tunnel that extended Mexico's Sinaloa cartel. The
more than 3,500 feet sug- cartel's longtime leader,
gested to authorities that Joaquin "El Chapo" Guz-
smugglers had plugged an man, was sentenced to life
initial exit point and were in U.S. prison in July.q
building another.
The suspected previous exit
"became unsustainable for
whatever reason, so they
built a spur," Border Patrol
spokesman Jeff Stephen-
son said.
By federal law, U.S. authori-
ties must fill the U.S. side of
tunnels with concrete after
they are discovered.