US: 'Most sophisticated' cross-border tunnel discovered between Mexico and Arizona

US Federal agents on August 6 discovered the “most sophisticated tunnels in US history” stretching from Mexico to Arizona, intended for smuggling. Tunnels were excavated beneath the dunes near Yuma, San Luis, Arizona, and into San Luis Río Colorado, Mexico. Tunnels were equipped with ventilation systems, water lines, electrical wiring, a rail system, and extensive reinforcement, federal officials confirmed, according to news agency reports. 

This appears to be the most sophisticated tunnel in U.S. history, and certainly, the most sophisticated I've seen in my career, acting chief patrol agent with the Border Patrol's Yuma Sector, Carl E. Landrum said.

In late July, HIS agents deployed on the Sonoran Desert on the American side of the international border discovered a “suspicious” sinkhole between the primary border wall and the secondary wall. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations said that it appeared to be the case of a cross-border tunnel smuggling, and added up to an existing investigation, news agency report confirmed. Further, on July 27, Border Patrol agents drilled the site and discovered a 3-feet-by-4-feet deep dent. Further excavating downward, the officials found pieces of wood and water hoses at 25 ft. Eventually, the Federal law enforcement from HIS found that the tunnel, in fact, ran 1,300 feet south of the border at Calle 10 and Ave. Capitan Carlos G. Calles in San Luis, Mexico, and continued north into the 1300 block of the Los Olivos neighborhood of San Luis, Arizona. 

What makes this one unique is that the terrain in Yuma is very hard—An assistant special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations (HIS), a division of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Yuma, Angel Ortiz said.

Further, he added, sand is very loose, and most of them end up caving. So the fact that the material was very well built and it had ventilation, it had water, it had a rail system with walls, roof, floor, electrical, makes this one a very unique type of tunnel.

[In this undated photo provided by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, excavation work continues at a site of an incomplete tunnel intended for smuggling, found stretching from Arizona to Mexico. Courtesy of ICE via AP]

[Photo provided by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, shows excavation work continues at a site of an incomplete tunnel intended for smuggling, found stretching from Arizona to Mexico. Courtesy of ICE via AP]

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Drugs and people supplied

The long tunnel extended up to a non-operational old Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant about 200 yards (180 meters) in San Luis, Arizona, the HSI said, in a news agency report. While the purpose of the tunnel exactly remained unclear, and an investigation was ongoing, HIS agents predicted that the drugs and people were supplied through it across the border. Additionally, they pointed out, builders deployed “heavy machinery” to construct it “for months”.  

In August 2018, the authorities detained the eatery owner Ivan Lopez in connection with drugs methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin and fentanyl recovered in the back of his pickup truck. While Lopez pleaded guilty to one count charge related to smuggling, he was sentenced to 7-year prison, the news agency cited the court records. 

[US Immigration and Customs Enforcement show a section of an incomplete tunnel intended for smuggling, found stretching from Arizona to Mexico. Courtesy of ICE via AP]

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(With Agency Inputs)

(Image Credit: AP)