Government to fill 7 tunnels on U.S.-Mexico borderThe Associated Press
Article Launched: 04/25/2007 11:38:47 AM PDT


SAN DIEGO- U.S. authorities plan to fill seven cross-border tunnels to keep smugglers from reopening them.
The tunnels, six in California and one in Arizona, have already been sealed off but authorities believe smugglers could dig new entrances and access hollow sections of the passageways, some of which stretch hundreds of feet.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Lauren Mack called the tunnels "a vulnerability to the security of our border." The tunnels were typically used to smuggle people and drugs into the United States from Mexico.

The tunnels will be filled with mix of asphalt emulsion and crushed aggregate to fill the tunnels. Work is expected to begin in May at a cost of about $2.7 million.

One of the tunnels, discovered in January 2006 near the Otay Mesa Port of Entry in San Diego, is 2,400 feet long and featured an 85-foot-deep shaft equipped with a pulley system. The tunnel's southern entrance was in a warehouse near the Tijuana airport.

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Information from: The San Diego Union-Tribune, http://www.signonsandiego.com

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