Massive Drug Tunnel Found Under Mexico Border

Underground drug freeway fitted with lights, water pumps, ventilation

(NEWSER) - Investigators have discovered a sophisticated drug cartel tunnel linking Mexico to Arizona, complete with lights and a ventilation systems. The tunnel connects an abandoned building in Noglales, Mexico, to Nogales, Arizona, and is 15 feet underground. "This tunnel is more sophisticated than others," said an investigator. "They chiseled through solid rock and then installed electricity, lighting, water pumps, and ventilation. It's a prime example of the risks traffickers will take and the lengths they will go to smuggle contraband into our country." More»

(NEWSER) - Improved security along the US-Mexico border has pushed enterprising smugglers to the sea in any manner of craft, the New York Times reports. Authorities have been catching twice as many illegal immigrants as usual—and seized 7 times the typical quantity of drugs—in recent months from boats and beaches, where smugglers sprint past startled sunbathers. One enterprising man was intercepted on a surfboard with a duffle bag full of pot. More»

(NEWSER) - Law enforcement expects to seize $1 billion worth of pot along one stretch of southern Arizona this year, and that’s just 20% of the marijuana they believe will be smuggled into the area from Mexico. But there’s little they can do about it, NPR reports; the region is rugged, sparsely populated, and, trickiest of all, it’s sovereign Tohono O’odham Indian land. More»

(NEWSER) - Arizona’s three state universities are following the State Department and attempting to dissuade students from spending spring break in Mexican border towns, a traditional pastime, because of drug-associated violence there, the AP reports. One federal official called the warning “sage advice,” noting “documented violence, attacks, killings” and gunfire in public places. “Innocent people have been caught up in that collateral damage,” he said. More»

It connected warehouses in Mexico and California

(NEWSER) - Another massive tunnel used for drug smuggling that stretches across the US-Mexican border is out of operation. The subterranean passageway connected a warehouse in Tijuana to a warehouse in San Diego and is the latest and most significant among a string of hidden drug-smuggling corridors located by authorities, reports AP . More»