Thread: Possible tunnel on border brings Yuma-area arrest

Possible tunnel on border brings Yuma-area arrest

By James Gilbert
Yuma Sun
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 11.10.2008

YUMA — A Mexican national has been arrested in San Luis in connection with a possible cross-border tunnel that was discovered late last week.

According to agent Karla Davalos, a spokeswoman for the Border Patrol's Yuma Sector, the agency received information regarding the possibility of a tunnel at a home on the east side of San Luis and went to investigate. San Luis is south of Yuma on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Agents found heavy-construction equipment and other material inside the home and arrested one person.

Davalos said the investigation into the possible tunnel was turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Vinnie Picard, a Phoenix spokesman for ICE, confirmed that the agency is investigating what appears to be a cross-border tunnel, but could not release all the information that was known.

Picard did say it was not known whether the tunnel, which originated in San Luis Rio Colorado, Sonora, was complete. He added that more information could be available today.

While he could not provide the exact location of the possible tunnel, Picard said the individual in custody was arrested on suspicion of participating or assisting in a criminal syndicate.

According to La Prensa, a newspaper in San Luis Rio Colorado, the entrance to the tunnel on the Mexican side of the border was in an abandoned apartment building along Avenue Capitan Carlos G Calles between 13th and 14th streets. The tunnel entrance is about 100 yards from where another drug tunnel was found in 2007.

http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/266502

this one line just slays me!
"Agents found heavy-construction equipment and other material inside the home and arrested one person. "

INSIDE the house? LOL!

Officials: Border tunnel not completed

November 10, 2008 - 10:21PM
BY JAMES GILBERT, SUN STAFF WRITER

Federal authorities confirmed on Monday the cross-border tunnel discovered last week by Border Patrol had not been completed yet.

However, Immigration and Custom Enforcement spokesperson Virginia Kice added that she could not release any more information about the cross-border tunnel yet due to the ongoing investigation.

Prosecutor Deann Sandry of the Yuma County Attorney's Office, who has been assigned the case added, "nothing came through that tunnel."

The Mexican national who was arrested Thursday in San Luis, Ariz., at a residence in connection to the tunnel has been identified as Luis Carlos Ayala Gonzalez.

Gonzalez has been charged with two counts of participating in a criminal syndicate, which is a class 2 felony and carries a three year to 12-3/4 year sentence if convicted.

Sandry added that depending on the investigation, more charges could be filed against Gonzalez and other arrests could be made in the case.

Agent Karla Davalos, a spokeswoman for the Yuma sector Border Patrol, said on Friday the agency received information regarding the possibility of a tunnel at a home on the east side of San Luis, Ariz., on Thursday and went to investigate.

Upon agents arrival to the residence, which was east of the port of entry, agents found heavy construction equipment and other material inside the home and arrested one individual.

"Construction had not begun in the residence yet," Sandry said.

The investigation into the possible tunnel was then turned over to Immigration and Custom Enforcement.

While ICE still isn't releasing the address of the residence yet, the entrance to the cross-border tunnel originated in San Luis Rio Colorado, Son.

According to authorities from the Mexican Attorney General's Office (PGR) they are awaiting state experts to arrive so that they can continue their investigation into the tunnel.

The state officials will head the investigation, after removing the machinery located in the apartment building in an alley way half block south of Capitan Carlos G. Calles Avenue (which was previously known as International Avenue) between 13th Street and 14th Street less than 100 meters from the international boundary.

There was excavation machinery, like the type used for mining, that was probably being used to excavate the tunnels, which at this point the depth is unknown because it was found full of water.

Aside from the excavating machinery the military found several tanks of water and many different tools dispersed between three different openings, one being the main tunnel.

An undisclosed amount of marijuana was also found, no one on the Mexican side has been arrested.

The tunnel entrance is also just 984 feet from where another drug tunnel was found last year.

Border Patrol agents discovered the first known tunnel to have been found in the Yuma sector in September of 2007 approximately one mile east of the San Luis port of entry, at 6th Avenue and Urtuzuastegui Street.

According to Sun archives, a Border Patrol maintenance man was using a watering truck to pack down the road for dust control around noon Monday when his truck fell about three feet into what was believed at the time to be a sinkhole.

That tunnel, which was still under construction, was started on the Mexican side of the border in a private home at Carlos G. Calles St. 1008, San Luis Rio Colorado, Son. It was 250 feet long - with 142 feet of it in Mexico and the remainder in the U.S.

www.yumasun.com

I.C.E. News Release

November 10, 2008

Mexican civil engineer charged after being linked to recently discovered San Luis drug tunnel
ICE probe into passageway discovered by CBP Border Patrol is ongoing

YUMA, Ariz. - A civil engineer from Mexico made his initial appearance in state court here this morning to face charges stemming from his alleged role in the design and construction of a partially-completed drug tunnel discovered near San Luis, Ariz., last week.

Luis Carlos Ayala-Gonzalez, 54, of Coahuila, Mexico, was arrested Wednesday by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents at a San Luis residence investigators suspect would eventually have served as the cross-border tunnel's outlet in the United States. Ayala-Gonzalez is charged with two counts of participating in a criminal syndicate, a violation that carries a maximum penalty of more than 12 years in prison. The case is being prosecuted by the Yuma County Attorney's Office.

Ayala-Gonzalez was taken into custody shortly before ICE agents executed a search warrant at the home, located at 1429 San Francisco Street. Inside they discovered large plastic pipes, sophisticated drilling equipment and journals documenting the construction of a tunnel. Mexican authorities have determined the tunnel originated beneath a residence across the international border in Mexico.

"While this tunnel wasn't finished, the quantity and quality of material found at the scene clearly shows this was a sophisticated operation," said Matt Allen, special agent in charge of the Arizona ICE Office of Investigations. "Thanks to the Border Patrol's vigilance, this tunnel no longer poses a threat, but ICE's investigation into the circumstances surrounding its construction is continuing."

The tunnel was discovered by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Border Patrol employee who noticed a spurt of cement coming out of a ventilation hole while he was driving just north of the international border. Border Patrol agents were inspecting the suspected tunnel when they observed suspicious activity at the nearby home on San Francisco Street. The agents detained Ayala-Gonzalez until ICE agents arrived to initiate a criminal investigation.

"The growing number of cross-border tunnels shows smugglers' desperation in the face of heightened border security, including the presence of an unprecedented number of Border Patrol agents, high-tech surveillance equipment, and additional fencing," said Paul A. Beeson, chief patrol agent of the Yuma Border Patrol Sector. "Confronted by these obstacles, smuggling organizations have resorted to going underground. The Border Patrol will continue to work with ICE and its other law enforcement partners to target the individuals responsible for these tunnels and bring them to justice."

The Bureau of Land Management has been notified and will excavate and fill in the underground tunnel once the criminal investigation has been concluded.

-- ICE --

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was established in March 2003 as the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security. ICE is comprised of five integrated divisions that form a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities.

Last Modified: Monday, November 10, 2008
U.S. Department of Homeland Security

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/0811/081110yuma.htm