Police in Otay Mesa, Calif., have seized a 1,848-ft. long tunnel to Mexico and put an end to a sophisticated cross-border smuggling operation. Unlike most tunnels constructed under the U.S. – Mexican border, however, this tunnel was not used for bringing drugs into the U.S., but instead was built for smuggling tunnels from the U.S. to Mexico. Once the tunnels were successfully brought under the border, they were redeployed and used for drug smuggling into the U.S. More than 75 drug tunnels have been found by U.S. and Mexican authorities in the last four years.
Criminals operating in the U.S. and Canada were apparently stealing tunnels throughout North America and smuggling them under the border to Mexico. Many types of tunnels were targeted, including utility tunnels, walking path tunnels, water supply tunnels, mechanical access tunnels and amusement park tunnels. The operation was so successful, thieves managed to steal a quarter-mile highway tunnel in Utah while three vehicles were inside.
Documents at the site of the Otay Mesa tunnel indicate that tunnel thieves planned to steal the 3.5-mile underground section of Interstate 93 through Boston, known informally as ‘the Big Dig’ in the early morning hours of March 18, 2011. The thieves apparently determined no one in the city would notice such an operation immediately following St. Patrick’s Day.
(tunnel image by Marius Arnesen, Big Dig image by Rene Schwietzke)
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