Cross-border tunnel from Tijuana found in Otay Mesa

OTAY MESA — U.S. authorities discovered a “sophisticated” cross-border tunnel stretching from a Tijuana house to an Otay Mesa warehouse near the port of entry.

As a result of the investigation, six people were charged for conspiring to distribute more than 1,750 pounds of cocaine, U.S. federal prosecutors said Monday.

The tunnel was estimated to be about 1,744 feet long, 61 feet deep and 4 feet in diameter with reinforced walls, a rail system, electricity and ventilation system, authorities said. It’s the first tunnel found in the region since March 2020.

The tunnel was discovered Friday “because of good old-fashioned police work,” U.S. Attorney Randy Grossman said Monday at a news conference in Otay Mesa.

Federal agents were conducting surveillance on a National City residence that had been previously used as a stash house for cocaine smuggling in March, he said.

In a span of hours, agents noticed five vehicles “come and go from the stash house and this warehouse,” Grossman said. “We allege that our defendants were driving into the garage and loading or dropping off cardboard boxes full of drugs to further the movement and distribution of drugs throughout the U.S.

“But federal agents were watching the whole time.”

Law enforcement officers stopped the vehicles and seized drugs from the vehicles and the residence. Six people, ages 31 to 55, were arrested and later charged, the U.S. attorney’s office said in a news release.

Authorities seized 164 pounds of methamphetamine and 3.5 pounds of heroin, along with the 1,762 pounds of cocaine, the U.S. attorney’s office said. In total the estimated value of the drugs seized is approximately $25 million, said Juan Muñoz, deputy special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in San Diego.