2 Tons of Pot Found in Border Tunnel

[Ono]

2 Tons of Pot Found in Border Tunnel

1 hour, 14 minutes ago

Authorities said they discovered more than 2 tons of marijuana in a cross-border tunnel that began near the Tijuana airport and ended inside a warehouse on the U.S. side.

The 2,400-feet long passageway is longer than most of the 21 cross-border tunnels that have been discovered since authorities began keeping track after the Sept. 11 attacks, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said.

"It was like being in a cavern or a cave," said Michael Unzueta, customs special agent in charge in San Diego.

The tunnel's discovery prompted the U.S. Attorney's office in San Diego to open a criminal investigation, said Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Mexican authorities found the entrance about 100 yards south of the border on Tuesday, and officers on the U.S. side found the exit Wednesday. Mexican officials allowed reporters and photographers, including an Associated Press photographer, into the tunnel late Wednesday.

The tunnel was about five feet wide and high enough for an adult to stand inside, had a cement floor, and lights mounted on one of the hard soil walls. It was equipped with a pulley system on the Mexican side.

Four tunnels have been discovered this month in the Tijuana-San Diego area, including more primitive tunnel that was also found Wednesday when a U.S. Border Patrol vehicle struck a sinkhole.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060126...HE0BHNlYwN0bWE-

[Cali/Yank]

It's also the 22nd tunnel found since 911.:add16:

[exitwound]

Man, I'm in the wrong business! :add01:

[Klaus]

Dank.:add01:

I hate to think of people and "things" not drug related that may have come through this tunnel.

Or the other 21 tunnels.

[exitwound]

Odds are, that wasn't dank but rather your run of the mill brickweed horseshit....

[Ono]

It's also the 22nd tunnel found since 911.:add16:

Unsettling at best.

[NYer]

Mexican arrested on drug charges in cross border tunnel case. (http://www.modbee.com/state_wire/story/11747707p-12469774c.html)

The allegations against the Mexican man stemmed from his connection to the U.S. warehouse, which was operated by V&F Distributors LLC. The company, which incorporated last year in California, paid $2 million to lease the 49,377-square-foot commercial warehouse for five years with the stated purpose of distributing produce, according to real estate records.

On Friday, immigration authorities warned it had received intelligence that the Mexican drug cartel behind the tunnel had threatened the lives of people who had used it as well as the lives of those involved in the passageway's design or construction. ICE appealed to those people to seek out U.S. immigration agents at Mexican border crossings and pledged to do everything possible to protect them.