Thread: Tijuana-Otay Mesa tunnel discovered

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Tijuana-Otay Mesa tunnel discovered

UNION-TRIBUNE
November 17, 2005

Mexican and U.S. authorities are investigating a cross-border tunnel found yesterday near the Otay Mesa Port of Entry.

The Tijuana police department, in a statement released last night, said the tunnel was about 50 feet long, and its entrance was accessible from a street on the Mexican side.

The tunnel, which was found about 5 p.m. Wednesday, is connected to a sewage or water drain line on the U.S. side, Tijuana police officials said.

Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, said the passageway was being guarded overnight on both sides, and U.S. authorities would learn more about it today.

"Once morning comes then we will be able to bring equipment in to start digging it up to know more about what we got," she said.

Mack said the tunnel's discovery was part of the agency's ongoing investigation on secret passageways along the border. Mexican authorities said it was a collaborative effort.

Tijuana's police chief, Genaro Carrillo Elvira, said in the news release that the tunnel appeared to be used to smuggle people or drugs across the border.

www.10news.com

Tunnel Believe To Be Used To Smuggle Drugs Or People

POSTED: 11:50 am PST November 17, 2005
UPDATED: 4:00 pm PST November 17, 2005

SAN DIEGO -- Federal agents Thursday destroyed a partially dug tunnel they discovered this week underneath the U.S.-Mexico border in Otay Mesa.

Crews excavated the roughly 90-foot-long dirt hole Thursday morning and sealed it with concrete, said Lauren Mack, a public information officer with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Federal personnel discovered the would-be subterranean smuggling route about a quarter-mile east of the terminus of State Route 905 last night. Its entrance was covered with wood.

It appeared the builders intended to connect the "primitive," unreinforced passageway to a storm-drain system just north of the binational boundary, Mack said.

It was the 16th border tunnel to turn up in California and Arizona since Sept. 11, 2001, a number Mack called a "significant increase."

The upswing in such clandestine burrowing activity at the international line apparently resulted from heightened security measures implemented in the wake of the East Coast terror attacks, she added.