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Posted on Mon, Jul. 17, 2006

Mexican man pleads guilty to building cross-border tunnel


Associated Press

SAN DIEGO - A Mexican man pleaded guilty Monday to a conspiracy charge in connection with the longest secret tunnel ever discovered along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Carlos Cardenas Calvillo, 44, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to aid and abet the distribution of controlled substances, said U.S. Attorney Carol Lam. The minimum mandatory sentence is 10 years in prison and the maximum is life, she said.

U.S. District Judge William Q. Hayes scheduled sentencing Oct. 10.

Authorities said they found more than 2 tons of marijuana inside the 2,400-foot tunnel in January. The clandestine passage, which linked warehouses in Tijuana, Mexico, and San Diego, was lit, ventilated and went as deep as 90 feet.

Prosecutor Sherri Walker Hobson said Cardenas acted as a "front" by posing as an employee of a vegetable and produce distributor. He admitted that his work for V&F Distributors was intended to give an impression that the business was legitimate, though he knew it was a drug smuggling operation, she said.

Authorities have discovered at least 39 secret tunnels on the U.S.-Mexico border since Sept. 11, 2001, the vast majority in and around San Diego and Nogales, Ariz., according to U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein's office.