Pubdate: Wed, 29 Apr 2015
Source: San Diego Union Tribune (CA)
Copyright: 2015 Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
Contact:  http://www.utsandiego.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/386
Note: Seldom prints LTEs from outside it's circulation area.
Author: Sandra Dibble

TWO SMUGGLING TUNNELS FOUND WITHIN TWO DAYS

Two tunnels dug beneath the California-Mexico border have been 
discovered in a two-day period.

The first was found Monday near Calexico across from Mexicali, and 
the second was an incomplete passageway found Tuesday in the Tijuana 
River Valley across from Tijuana's Avenida Internacional.

The Mexicali-Calexico tunnel measured 230 feet long, was about four 
feet high and four feet wide, and had lighting and ventilation, 
according to the U.S. Border Patrol.

That passageway led from a residence in Mexicali. It was discovered 
by members of the patrol's Border Search Trauma and Rescue unit. The 
unit had been searching an area near the All-American Canal after 
agents on Sunday intercepted four men trying to cross the canal with 
25 vacuum-sealed packages containing 69 pounds of methamphetamine 
worth $694,000.

Three of the men fled back to Mexico. The fourth man was caught in 
the canal with a wetsuit and scuba gear.

On the Tijuana-San Diego border, an incomplete tunnel was found 
Tuesday west of the San Ysidro Port of Entry by U.S. Border Patrol 
agents working in the Tijuana River Valley.

The tunnel had lighting, as well as a rail system with a cart, said 
Lauren Mack, spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement 
in San Diego. The agents initially thought it was a sinkhole, but on 
closer examination determined that it was a collapsed section of the 
tunnel, she said. It was about 200 meters long.

There was no U.S. exit, Mack said. Mexican authorities traced the 
tunnel's entrance to a residence in Tijuana that's reportedly located 
near the U.S. border fence in Colonia Castillo, where Tijuana media 
cited the presence of the Mexican military on Tuesday afternoon. No 
arrests were reported.

U.S. federal authorities have found more than 80 cross-border 
smuggling tunnels since 2006, most of them in California and Arizona. 
The passageways are typically used by criminal groups to smuggle 
drugs across the border.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom