Massive drugs tunnel under US

2006-01-27 08:07

San Diego - United States authorities said on Thursday they discovered the largest and most sophisticated tunnel ever detected under their border with Mexico, one that was used by drug trafficking gangs.

The tunnel, lined with concrete and equipped with ventilation and lights, is one kilometre-long, according to Mexican officials, but their US counterparts say it was only about 727m.

The secret route is cut a staggering 26m below ground, directly under a heavily protected sector of the frontier and is much larger than the 21 others detected under the border since the September 11 2001 terror attacks on US soil, US officials said.

"We believe this tunnel is, in fact, the largest tunnel ever found on the Southwest border," said Michael Unzueta, special agent in charge for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement in San Diego.

'We see it as a vulnerability'

The tunnel, discovered late on Wednesday by US Border Patrol agents who tipped off Mexican authorities, begins beneath a warehouse in the Mexican border town of Tijuana and stretches to Otay, near the California city of San Diego.

The length and well-built structure of the tunnel, which was 1.5m wide, make it unusual.

Authorities found more than two tons of marijuana in the tunnel that US officials fear could also be used by people smugglers and even terrorists trying to circumvent the porous border

"We're very concerned," said Unzueta. "When we find these tunnels, we see that as a vulnerability to our national security."

Mexican police raided the warehouse in Tijuana and discovered a 1.8 by 3.6m concrete-lined shaft equipped with a ladder that drops down to the tunnel below.

The tunnel has a lighting, ventilation and pumping system to keep seeping water out.

John Fernandes of the US Drug Enforcement Administration in San Diego said the sheer scale and construction of the tunnel indicated that it was likely built by Mexico's drug trafficking cartels.

The US-Mexican border - that stretches from San Diego on the West coast to the Gulf of Mexico, across California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas - is notoriously porous and the focus of US security concerns, as well as a backlash by US conservatives who say the US government is not doing enough to bar illegals.

Under public and political pressure, US authorities have stepped up efforts to prevent illegal immigrants from crossing the desert border, while a group of US citizen vigilantes known as "Minutemen" began patrolling the border last year.

The Mexican drug cartels have spent millions of dollars in the last 15 years to find ways of moving contraband across the border into the lucrative US market.

A number of tunnels have been detected under the border in recent months by a special ICE tunnel task force, including four in the San Diego area this month alone.

- AFP