Feds discover Mexican drug tunnel in Calif. home
So much for that border wall.
Federal agents busted a massive 415-yard tunnel stretching between Mexicali, Mexico, and Calexico, Calif., after a 16-month investigation, seizing almost 3,000 pounds in marijuana.
FLIGHT ATTENDANT WHO LEFT COCAINE IN LAX BUSTED AT JFK
The underground network, which spanned the length of more than four football fields, had entrances at a restaurant in Mexico and a newly built house in California.
The three-bedroom property was bought by drug traffickers for up to $326,000 last April, with the first tunnel shipment going out on Feb. 28, prosecutors said.
Officials had been monitoring the home since construction began in the fall of 2015.
“This house and tunnel were constructed under the watchful eye of law enforcement,” U.S. attorney Laura Duffey said. “For the builders, the financiers and the operators of these passageways, there is no light at the end of the tunnel. We will seize your drugs and your tunnel before you even have a chance to use it.”
Police seized 1,350 pounds of marijuana on March 7, and found more bundles of drugs stashed in the tunnel during Wednesday’s raid.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Federal authorities found a massive drug trafficking tunnel starting at a restaurant in Mexico and ending at home in California.
MAN ACCUSED OF GIVING BEER, TRANSPORT TO ESCAPED INMATES
Authorities arrested Joel Duarte Medina and Manuel Gallegos Jiminez on Wednesday, and Manuela Duarte-Medina and her mother, Eva Duarte De Medina on Tuesday in Arizona. Authorities said the mother-daughter duo purchased the drug house last April.
This is the first time that drug traffickers bought property in the U.S. specifically for hiding a drug tunnel, officials said.
The sophisticated tunnel was 32 feet below ground, with lighting, electricity and a rail system that lead to a 3 foot-wide opening at the front of the California home, ABC reported.
This is the first completed tunnel found in Calexico in a decade — as underground passageways typically lead to San Diego, where it has easier soil for digging and warehouses for transporting drugs.
The super-tunnel is the 12th secret passageway U.S. authorities have found along California’s border with Mexico since 2006.
With News Wire Services
ang@nydailynews.com
Tags:
So much for that border wall.
Federal agents busted a massive 415-yard tunnel stretching between Mexicali, Mexico, and Calexico, Calif., after a 16-month investigation, seizing almost 3,000 pounds in marijuana.
FLIGHT ATTENDANT WHO LEFT COCAINE IN LAX BUSTED AT JFK
The underground network, which spanned the length of more than four football fields, had entrances at a restaurant in Mexico and a newly built house in California.
The three-bedroom property was bought by drug traffickers for up to $326,000 last April, with the first tunnel shipment going out on Feb. 28, prosecutors said.
Officials had been monitoring the home since construction began in the fall of 2015.
“This house and tunnel were constructed under the watchful eye of law enforcement,” U.S. attorney Laura Duffey said. “For the builders, the financiers and the operators of these passageways, there is no light at the end of the tunnel. We will seize your drugs and your tunnel before you even have a chance to use it.”
Police seized 1,350 pounds of marijuana on March 7, and found more bundles of drugs stashed in the tunnel during Wednesday’s raid.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
Federal authorities found a massive drug trafficking tunnel starting at a restaurant in Mexico and ending at home in California.
MAN ACCUSED OF GIVING BEER, TRANSPORT TO ESCAPED INMATES
Authorities arrested Joel Duarte Medina and Manuel Gallegos Jiminez on Wednesday, and Manuela Duarte-Medina and her mother, Eva Duarte De Medina on Tuesday in Arizona. Authorities said the mother-daughter duo purchased the drug house last April.
This is the first time that drug traffickers bought property in the U.S. specifically for hiding a drug tunnel, officials said.
The sophisticated tunnel was 32 feet below ground, with lighting, electricity and a rail system that lead to a 3 foot-wide opening at the front of the California home, ABC reported.
This is the first completed tunnel found in Calexico in a decade — as underground passageways typically lead to San Diego, where it has easier soil for digging and warehouses for transporting drugs.
The super-tunnel is the 12th secret passageway U.S. authorities have found along California’s border with Mexico since 2006.
With News Wire Services
ang@nydailynews.com
Tags:
Don't be nieve
