Pubdate: Mon, 13 May 2002 Source: Tampa Tribune (FL) Section: Nation/World, page 5 Copyright: 2002, The Tribune Co. Contact: http://www.tampatrib.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/446 Author: Julie Watson, Associated Press DRUG SMUGGLERS TUNNEL INTO U.S. Tight Security Sends Crime Underground TECATE, Mexico - It was a typical bedroom with long curtains and a plush, floral rug - except that the fireplace wasn't just for keeping things cozy. When police removed the metal grill holding charred logs, they found a secret tunnel to the United States. Over the past decade, officials have discovered at least 16 tunnels along the 2,000- mile U.S.-Mexico border, all thought to be used for smuggling drugs. Six have been found since December, and federal law enforcement officials on both sides of the border said they believe five started operating after Sept. 11. This suggests to them that heightened U.S. border security is driving more smugglers to the underground route. "We firmly believe there is a direct relation to our fortification of the border," said Vincent Iglio, associate special agent in charge of the U.S. Customs Service in Tucson, Ariz. The passage behind the fireplace was discovered in February in an isolated ranch house 20 miles east of the Mexican border town of Tecate. It had rails on which smugglers would send cocaine on electric carts on a 300-yard journey into a house in Tierra del Sol, Calif. Although it is believed to have gone undetected for 10 years, the other recently discovered tunnels seem newer and more hastily dug. One was still under construction when U.S. Border Patrol agents stumbled upon it last month. Another, found in March, was built to bypass the entrance of another tunnel that had been discovered and sealed with concrete. The 85-foot sealed tunnel, found in December, ran from a Nogales home in Arizona to a concrete drainage canal in Mexico, where smugglers covered the opening and resealed it with cement each time they used it. U.S. Customs authorities said they believe it had been operating only three months, in which time smugglers moved some $20 million worth of cocaine and marijuana. Another tunnel believed put into operation since Sept. 11 and found last month ended in a parking lot near the U.S. Customs office in Nogales. Authorities on both sides of the border are looking for more, but it's a challenge. "We can't go around doing seismic graphs, and we can't check without a search warrant," said Donald Thornhill Jr., spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration in San Diego. The most elaborate tunnel, found 12 years ago, ran 100 yards from a home in Agua Prieta, Mexico, to a warehouse in Douglas, Ariz. It was accessed by using hydraulic lifts that raised the entire floor of the home's game room. Seven of the tunnels connected to storm drains linking the two cities named Nogales on either side of the Arizona border. Years ago, street children lived in the drains and charged smugglers for the right to pass. Migrants also traipsed through the darkness until several drowned in a rush of flood waters and the U.S. Border Patrol started monitoring the tunnels' openings on the U.S. side. Thornhill said he doesn't believe terrorists might use the tunnels. "Drug traffickers have them pretty well locked up," he said. "It's such a bonanza for them. I don't think terrorists would be welcome." - --- MAP posted-by: Ariel