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| Another cross-border tunnel found, 30 tons of pot seized | |
| 2010-11-05 | |
| Found beneath the Mexico-U.S. border: The 600 yard long drug tunnel with its own electricity supply and even a miniature railway line connecting warehouses on each side of the border. Federal authorities have made one of the largest marijuana seizures in the U.S., confiscating more than 20 tons of cannabis with a street value of $20 million smuggled into the country through an elaborate underground tunnel. Mexican authorities also seized more than four tons of cannabis from a warehouse on their side of the border. 'This is obviously the work of a cartel,' said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director John Morton, who held a news conference outside the warehouse in an industrial park near the Otay Mesa truck crossing, across from Tijuana. Officials said the lightning-speed, 12-hour operation started last night when U.S. authorities watching a warehouse under surveillance followed a tractor-trailer as it left the building. Authorities say they found 10 tons of marijuana inside the tractor-trailer. The driver, a U.S. citizen, and his Mexican wife were arrested and will be arraigned in San Diego tomorrow. The clandestine passageway was too low to stand up in and was believed to be in operation for only a brief time, Morton said. Officials said the seizure was the largest ever in California and was believed to be the second-largest in the U.S. Today's announcement comes only weeks after Mexican officials made their largest marijuana seizure ever, confiscating a massive 134 tons believed to belong to the powerful Sinaloa cartel. Morton credited the increase in tunnel discoveries to "good old-fashioned law enforcement" efforts, with agents keeping a close eye on the thousands of warehouses storing goods moved back and forth across the border. Morton said such a rapid bust, which came after a month-long investigation, was possible because of cooperation between U.S. and Mexican authorities.
The smuggling was active for about a month until this week's seizure. The tunnel was rather small and crude, and an individual can't stand up in it, according to ICE director John Morton. The task force became the first of its kind in 2003, when it was assembled to deal with a growing number of underground smuggling routes on the California-Mexico border, and because of post-September 11 security concerns, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Lauren Mack said. The task force uses robots to scout out a newly discovered tunnel before agents are sent into it. Federal agents are trained like miners on how to negotiate confined spaces, and the San Diego-Mexico region is even used to test the latest ground-penetrating technology to detect tunnels, including by the U.S. military, Mack said. | |
| Posted by:trailing wife |
| #1 Today's announcement comes only weeks after Mexican officials made their largest marijuana seizure ever, confiscating a massive 134 tons believed to belong to the powerful Sinaloa cartel. Apparently the narcos expected California Prop. 19 to pass. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2010-11-05 22:10 |