Thread: U.S., Mexican authorities investigating cross-border tunnel

I.C.E. News Release

December 2, 2009

U.S., Mexican authorities investigating cross-border tunnel near San Diego

Passageway equipped with lighting, ventilation and elevator systems

SAN DIEGO - Mexican authorities, acting on information provided by federal investigators from the multi-agency San Diego Tunnel Task Force, conducted enforcement actions Wednesday targeting a sophisticated, but still incomplete underground passageway that originates in Tijuana, Mexico, and extends more than 860 feet into the United States.

The tunnel, which measures just under 1,000 feet in length overall and reaches a depth of 90 to 100 feet, did not have an entry point in the United States. The passageway has lighting, electrical and ventilation systems and is equipped with an elevator. When Mexican authorities entered the passageway Wednesday morning on the Mexican side, they encountered more than a dozen individuals who were subsequently taken into custody. All of those arrested are believed to be Mexican citizens.

Initial reports indicate the tunnel has been under construction for approximately two years. So far, there have been no arrests in the United States, but the investigation is ongoing.

Here in the United States, the investigation into the tunnel is being spearheaded by the San Diego Tunnel Task Force, which is made up of agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), U.S. Border Patrol, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the California Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement. The enforcement efforts in Tijuana are being led by the Government of Mexico.

"The fact we found this tunnel before it could be completed is a testament to the extraordinary work of the Tunnel Task Force," said Michael Carney, acting special agent in charge for the ICE Office of Investigations in San Diego. "As a result of our proactive efforts, we are detecting more and more of these tunnels before they can be finished and put to use by criminal organizations involved in smuggling drugs and other contraband."

"The discovery of this unfinished tunnel bears witness to the extraordinary cooperation between all agencies involved in the task force and the Government of Mexico," says DEA Special Agent in Charge Ralph W. Partridge. "It is extremely important to the San Diego area and the entire United States that this cooperative effort stopped the completion of this drug smuggling corridor before even an ounce of drugs could be transported through it."

"This result clearly reflects the commitment put forth by the government of Mexico to confront cross-border threats and build upon the bilateral partnerships established with U.S. law enforcement agencies," said San Diego Border Patrol Sector Chief Michael Fisher.

The Task Force uses an array of high-tech equipment and intelligence information to pinpoint the location of underground passageways along the border in the region. To date, federal authorities have discovered more than 120 cross-border tunnels along the Southwest border.

Editor's note: No photos of the tunnel are currently available. If we receive pictures, we will forward them to the news organizations on our media list.

-- ICE --

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security.

ICE comprises four integrated divisions that form a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities. For more information, visit www.ICE.gov. To report suspicious activity, call 1-866-347-2423.

Last Modified: Wednesday, December 2, 2009
U.S. Department of Homeland Security

http://www.ice.gov/pi/nr/0912/091202sandiego.htm

They already know where these things are. California is riddled with seismic sensors for all the earthquake activity. These idiots already know about these tunnels.

In this day and age we can track down a cow that has mad cow to it's stall in the middle of nowhere and it's entire heritage and what grain it ate from what manufacturer and on what day the grain was bagged and shipped, but we can't find a damned tunnel?

Originally Posted by laughinglynx

but we can't find a damned tunnel?

To date, federal authorities have discovered more than 120 cross-border tunnels along the Southwest border.

More than 120 tunnels? Those dufuses building them just ain't clever. And I am sure that someone is continuing to dig somewhere along the border.

Initial reports indicate the tunnel has been under construction for approximately two years.

2 years of work down the drain without any drugs or people making it across.

Ha Ha

Look at it this way. When the entire border collapses from all the tunnels all we need to do is connect it to the ocean and we can flood them out.

I wonder if the workers got paid every week or only when the job is done.

December 10, 2009

Inside a border tunnel

Posted: 11:13 AM ET

Editor's Note: Authorities have uncovered an underground tunnel between Tijuana, Mexico and San Diego, California. Anderson will be live from this new tunnel tonight at 10 p.m. ET.

Authorities have uncovered an unfinished tunnel under the border between the United States and Mexico. The tunnel, complete with an elevator, electricity and a ventilation system, extends from Tijuana, Mexico to Otay Mesa, Calif., in San Diego.

The tunnel was discovered by Mexican law enforcement working with the San Diego Tunnel Task Force, which includes agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Drug Enforcement Agency and the U.S. Border Patrol.

The tunnel would have been used primarily, if not exclusively, for moving drugs under the border, according to DEA agents. Thirteen people were arrested inside the tunnel last week and an investigation into others responsible for planning and building the illegal tunnel is ongoing.


CNN photojournalist Neil Hallsworth takes a dummy car down 90 feet into the tunnel.
The tunnel is approximately 900 feet long and reaches a depth of up to 100 feet. Law enforcement agents estimate it has been under construction for roughly three years. The Otey Mesa exit point had yet to be finished, but agents say it was very close to completion.


Over the past year, Mexican and U.S. authorities have ramped up efforts to contain cross-border drug trafficking. This discovery is the latest in a series of tunnels found in recent months under the California and Mexico border. Authorities contend the tunnels are used by Mexican organized crime groups to smuggle drugs under the border into the U.S.


One end of the tunnel on the U.S. side of the border, where agents discovered the tunnel and bore into it.
The entrance of the tunnel is in a non-descript warehouse in Tijuana, which contains pallets of soda, paper towels and toilet paper.

To access the tunnel, people would step into a bathroom with a thick concrete false floor connected to a hydraulic system that would lower them down approximately eight feet to the first ‘room’ of the tunnel.

This 15-foot-square room is where agents believe the tunnel workers would squeeze together to sleep.

After the first room, a tunnel shaft extends about 15 feet to a small alcove where there is a dummy car attached to a motorized cable. The dummy car is lowered on a crude, wooden track to the main tunnel shaft.

The main shaft is about five-feet by four-feet and is solid rock. Agents discovered jackhammers and crude picks inside which were used to construct the tunnel. Electric cables and light bulbs run along one side of the tunnel, as well as pipes for water.

A jackhammer discovered inside the tunnel.
The intricate and detailed engineering has led agents to believe that the workers had prior experience in construction.

The dirt floor of the tunnel is littered with things the workers left behind - cigarette lighters, shoes, water bottles and pages torn from magazines.

There is no technology to discover these elaborate tunnels, agents rely only on human intelligence to find them.
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Several pictures at this link:

http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/12/10/i ... gletoolbar