Thread: Mexico police chief murder linked to border tunnel

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexi ... rugs-.html

TIJUANA, Mexico – Gunmen killed the police chief of a Mexican city bordering California Tuesday by shooting him some 50 times in an apparent revenge attack after police found a drug-smuggling tunnel under the border.

Gunmen broke into the house of Tecate police chief Juan Soriano in the early hours of the morning and shot him repeatedly in the face and torso as he slept in bed with his wife, an official at the Baja California state attorney general's office told Reuters. His wife was not hit.

The killing of Soriano, who had started his job only last week, appeared to be an act of revenge against Mexican police, who Monday discovered a tunnel nearly a mile long running into California from Tecate near the Pacific coast after a tip-off from the U.S. Border Patrol.

“As soon as Soriano made public the discovery of the tunnel, he went home and hours later, they executed him in his bedroom,â€

And THESE are the type of people we do NOT want here!

Seal the tunnels and secure the border! ENFORCE OUR LAWS NOW!

What's the problem? They just want open borders so they can have a better life.

This is a duplicate post but will leave since this thread has more responses.

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Thank you.

December 04, 2007

Going underground


Mexican reporters wandering through the Tecate tunnel's southernmost section. Anna Cearley / San Diego Union-Tribune


I've written about so many cross border tunnels that I start to visualize the border like a slice of Swiss cheese with an endless army of moles burrowing new holes just as fast as the passageways are found.

Most of the time the tunnels are found north of the border and that means a lot of waiting around and shooting the breeze with law enforcement types south of the border until the tunnel entrance is located in Mexico. A typical tunnel isn't very user friendly: Think cramped, dusty and crudely made. This week's tunnel in Tecate turned out to be more sophisticated than I anticipated and I didn't have the appropriate tunnel attire - tennis shoes, jeans - when Mexican authorities allowed reporters into the south side Tuesday. I watched warily as television camera crews hoisted their heavy gear and eased down a flimsy ladder strapped to a post with a cord. The ladder shuddered with every step.

A thirty-foot plunge doesn't look so safe from up above, and I wasn't quite convinced it was worth the risk until I saw a Mexican television reporter sashay her way down in two-and-a-half-inch spike heels. So I took a deep breath and went underground. Having missed the infamous Otay Mesa tunnel of 2006 (I was on vacation in Hawaii) I was glad to be around for this one that looks like it might be about the same size, with plenty of head room.

To mark the occasion, I joined the Mexican reporters for a round of photo shoots. It's not often you have a picture of yourself in a cross-border tunnel like this one to add to your photo collection.

Here's our latest story on what's going on in Tecate. (posted this story below)

www.signonsandiego.com

Tecate police official slain

Killing occurs hours after tunnel is found

By Anna Cearley
and Sandra Dibble
STAFF WRITERS

December 5, 2007

TECATE – The killing of a high-ranking police officer and the discovery of a cross-border tunnel in a 24-hour period have stunned people in this quiet border city, known more for its namesake brewery and tree-lined central plaza than for the ravages of organized crime.

Juan José Soriano Pereira, 35, who was described as second in command of Tecate's police force, was shot to death in his bed about 2 a.m. yesterday, said Sonia Patricia Navarro, who oversees Baja California's state investigative police force. Soriano was hit by 45 bullets, Navarro said.

Soriano's wife and their 1-year-old daughter also were in the bedroom when the assailants burst in, said Soriano's niece, Elizabeth Sarmiento. Two other daughters were sleeping in other rooms, she said.

Just the day before, Soriano and dozens of local, state and federal officials helped secure areas around the port of entry as authorities tried to pinpoint the Mexican entrance to the tunnel. The entry on the U.S. side was found about 5 a.m. Monday.

The Mexican opening was found yesterday morning inside a building that apparently was being rented out to several businesses, about a block west of the Mexican port of entry and a block south of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Though the tunnel and the slaying are being investigated separately, authorities are exploring whether there's a connection, Navarro said.

Tecate, a city of about 122,000 people about 30 miles east of Tijuana and across the border from the California town of the same name, has avoided much of the drug-trafficking violence that has plagued Tijuana. The area is known as a place where immigrant smugglers operate, but this is the first tunnel to be found in Tecate's urban zone in at least 10 years.

Unlike other police agencies in the state, Tecate's police force has suffered few fatalities, although in December 1998, Tecate's assistant police chief was gunned down at his home in a hit that investigators suspected was linked to organized crime.

The area's relative peacefulness can be deceiving, however, because members of organized-crime groups are believed to maintain residences and ranches in nearby rural communities.

The incidents are a reminder that smaller cities such as Tecate and Rosarito Beach, which has seen more drug-related violence in recent years, are within the reach of organized crime.

Several residents said they were concerned that the events could signal a turning point.

“It's very peaceful here,â€

(MOD EDIT)

The killing of Soriano, who had started his job only last week, appeared to be an act of revenge against Mexican police, who Monday discovered a tunnel nearly a mile long running into California from Tecate near the Pacific coast after a tip-off from the U.S. Border Patrol.

Rather than tipping off the Mexican cops, the BP could have just sealed the tunnel with concrete, lots of concrete.

Smuggling tunnel near Tecate to be filled in this week

By Sandra Dibble
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

7:25 p.m. December 5, 2007

A cross-border drug smuggling tunnel discovered Monday near the Tecate border crossing is scheduled to be plugged by the end of this week.
“They're moving very fast to get it closed up,â€

Thanks Jean! Great work!