Drug Tunnel From San Diego to Mexico: 'Longest Ever Discovered'

SAN DIEGO, CA: Federal officials gave more details Wednesday about an alleged drug-smuggling tunnel between Tijuana, Mexico and Otay Mesa in the southernmost reaches of San Diego County.

The entrance to the tunnel — covered only by a dumpster surrounded by wood pallets — was on the grounds of a pallet storage facility in a commercial district of Otay Mesa. On the other side: a home in Tijuana, reporters learned during a news conference led by U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy.

The takedown was a result of a months-long investigation and amounts to the largest cocaine seizure to date along the California-Mexico border she said. Agents seized $22 million worth of cocaine and $4.2 million worth of marijuana.

"Where we are is 500 yards north of the international border," Duffy said.

The complex tunnel is 874 yards in length — as long as nine football fields — and zig-zags to Mexico, Duffy said.

In the Tijuana home on the receiving of the tunnel, there is a commercial-grade elevator that can hold 8 to 10 people, according to Duffy.

Six people were arrested Friday, then indicted in federal court Monday in connection with the tunnel, she said: One U.S. citizen, two Cubans and three Mexican nationals.

Charged by federal complaint with various drug trafficking and tunnel-related charges, including conspiracy to import and distribute cocaine and conspiracy to use a border tunnel were: Martiniano Garcia-Sedano, Cruz Armando Parra Corrales, Alejandro Bravo, Juan Carlos Chavez Fabian, Alejandro Gomez-Baez and Osmel Martinez. They remain in custody pending detention hearings.

"This tunnel exit is literally a hole in the ground in the middle of this commercial area," Duffy said. "On the surface, few would suspect traffickers were moving multi-ton quantities of cocaine and marijuana.

"It's a 3-foot hole covered by jumbo-sized dumpster...10 feet down it is a fairly complex tunnel with lights and a ventilation system .... This is the longest tunnel seen along the California border; this is one of narrowest at 3 feet in diameter ..."

The investigation into the sophisticated underground passageway began about seven or eight months ago, Duffy said, when an astute Border Patrol agent noticed that "things just didn’t add up."

"So they began monitoring this new location," Duffy said. "Over the course of that, we saw what we believed to people making some dry runs — practicing ... . Then this past week is when we began seeing what we thought was real activity."

Duffy said the smugglers would load the dumpster directly above the tunnel with drugs, then use a forklift to place it onto a waiting truck. Investigators then observed the truck being driven to a parking lot on Imperial Avenue near 30th Street, she said, where the dumpster would be unloaded to waiting vehicles.

Agents conducting surveillance watched as the defendants placed a tarp between the dumpster and a box truck, and then moved back and forth between them. A couple of hours later, the box truck was driven out of the parking lot.

It was at this point during a live run when deputies with the San Diego County Sheriff's Department conducted a traffic stop and the takedown began, she said.

Federal agents obtained warrants to search the lots and found the tunnel exit. Inside the tunnel they found 68 bales of marijuana weighing 1,638 pounds. The exit was found at the exact location where agents had previously observed one of the defendants Garcia unload the dumpster from the roll off truck, with the assistance of two other defendants. Agents also found an additional 1,430 pounds of marijuana in the dumpster.

In total, authorities seized 2,242 pounds of cocaine and more than 14,000 pounds of marijuana.

“Homeland Security Investigations and our law enforcement partners collaborated and utilized every resource to take down another cross-border tunnel that posed a threat to national security,” said Dave Shaw, special agent in charge for U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in San Diego. “HSI is committed to combatting increasingly dangerous trans-border smuggling activities and preventing those responsible from using this technique as a profitable investment.”

“This case is a strong reminder of the vulnerabilities that exist along the Southwest border,” said Hunter Davis, Director of Air Operations for Customs and Border Protection, Air and Marine Operations, “Drug trafficking organizations continue to jeopardize our National Security in exchange for profit.”

“We know that drug trafficking organizations are using any and all means to get their contraband across the US/Mexican Border,” said DEA San Diego Special Agent in Charge William Sherman. “Historically, seizures from drug tunnels have been marijuana and small amounts of cocaine. A 2,000 pound cocaine seizure tells DEA and our law enforcement partners that these groups are having to resort to unsophisticated tunnels to try and push through what amounts to a $22 million loss just in cocaine alone. This loss is a devastating blow even to an established drug trafficking organization.”

“Because of the collaboration of the agencies involved in this investigation, a serious blow was dealt to the criminal organization responsible for this threat,” said Chief Patrol Agent Richard Barlow, U.S. Border Patrol, San Diego Sector. “I applaud the men and women who worked tirelessly to stop the flow of dangerous narcotics through this tunnel and thank them for their continued efforts to protect the citizens we serve.”

The tunnel dismantled in Otay Mesa is the 13th large-scale operational drug smuggling tunnel discovered along the California border since 2006. In the last five years, federal authorities have detected more than 75 cross-border smuggling tunnels, most of them in California and Arizona.

Photos: U.S. Attorneys Office, Southern District of California