When US police investigated a drug case, they found a hole in the floor inside a warehouse. The hole turned out to be the entrance to a 531 meter long tunnel.
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US authorities have found a tunnel that stretches from Tijuana in Mexico to a department store in San Diego in the USA.
The 531-meter-long tunnel with railway, electricity and ventilation system is said to have been used to smuggle drugs between the countries.
According to prosecutors the tunnel is about one meter in diameter and 18 meters deep.
Police found the tunnel when they were investigating a drug seizure, and six people have been arrested and charged with smuggling.
It is uncertain how long it has been in use.
–Holes in the floor
California prosecutors said in a statement that police saw several vehicles coming and going from a building on Friday, May 13th.
The drivers of the cars were stopped and it turned out that they were carrying drugs.
When police entered the building, they found a hole in the floor leading down to the tunnel.
–Hundreds of kilos of drugs were seized and the six who were arrested could face life in prison if found guilty, according to authorities.
– We will close all underground smuggling routes we find, to prevent illegal drugs from reaching our streets, says State Attorney Randy Grossman in the statement.
The US ambassador to Mexico, Ken Salazar, says that the countries are working together to uncover such tunnels, writes Al Jazeera.
– This must stop, he says.
After such tunnels are found, they are filled with concrete.
90 tunnels found
This is not the first time such a tunnel has been found in California.
Since 1993, 90 such secret tunnels have been found, most recently in 2020 when a 1313 meter long tunnel was found.
San Diego police have a special team working to uncover tunnels used to carry drugs.
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