Authorities from the United States and Mexico discovered a sophisticated drug tunnel nearly 600 meters long that connected the city of Tijuana with a front store in the Otay Mesa area of San Diego, following six months of surveillance that resulted in the arrest of four individuals and the seizure of over a ton of cocaine valued at 45 million dollars.
The underground passage was discovered on May 29 and measures between 589 and 610 meters in length, located at a depth of 16.8 meters, and has a height of up to 1.4 meters.
The tunnel features reinforced walls, rail systems, ventilation, electrical supply, and a sliding electronic mechanism in both directions.
The access on the American side was hidden beneath the floor of a storage room inside the «Buy 4 Less» store, near the Mesa de Otay Port of Entry, and was activated by an electric forklift.
The Attorney General's Office of the Republic (FGR) of Mexico located the entrance in the Nueva Tijuana neighborhood, with a section in Mexican territory measuring 265 meters.
The authorities found 1,029.60 kilograms of cocaine hidden in industrial freezers inside the front store, as well as cartridges suggesting that the location may have also operated as a center for the storage and trafficking of weapons and explosives.
The tunnel is attributed to the Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), an organization designated as a foreign terrorist group by the government of Donald Trump on February 19, 2025, along with five other Mexican cartels.
Four people were arrested: Gregorio Epifanio Hernández López, José Jiménez, Brandon Escalante Sandoval, and Antonio Cortez, two from San Diego and two from Mexico.
Hernández López faces the most serious charges: conspiracy to use an unauthorized cross-border tunnel, conspiracy to import cocaine, and conspiracy to distribute controlled substances.
The other three defendants are facing charges of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances imported through the tunnel.
All charges may carry life imprisonment and fines of up to 10 million dollars.
The operation was the result of six months of surveillance by U.S. National Security investigators on the front store, as detailed by Infobae in its coverage of the case.
"The criminal organizations continue to seek ways to exploit our border," stated Justin de la Torre, head of the San Diego sector Border Patrol.
In 2022, anothersophisticated narco-tunnel was discovered at this same border, making the Tijuana-Otay Mesa corridor one of the historically most active locations for such clandestine structures.
This is the first operational tunnel discovered in the Southern District of California since that year, and the evidence and property have been secured by the Mexican Federal Public Ministry in Baja California to continue the investigation.
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