Four charged, more than 1 ton of cocaine seized in connection with cross-border tunnel in Otay Mesa

Four people were charged following a month-long federal drug investigation that led to the discovery of a cross-border tunnel stretching from a Tijuana home to a supposed discount store in Otay Mesa, officials said Monday. The 1,933-foot-long passageway, which federal officials said was “among the most sophisticated” ever found along the San Diego border, was equipped with reinforced walls, a rail system, electricity and a ventilation system.

It ran 55 feet underground, and the tunnel itself was 4 feet high. Investigators said the tunnel was being used to smuggle cocaine.

Federal authorities seized 851 packages of the drug, weighing over 1 ton and estimated to be worth $45 million, as part of the operation, according to court records. [image_1] U.S.

Attorney Adam Gordon said that it was believed the tunnel was the work of the Jalisco Nueva Generación cartel, also known by the acronym CJNG. “For those defendants, they thought they saw a light at the end of the tunnel,” Gordon said at a news conference Monday.

“In fact, what they saw were our lights and sirens.” The four defendants, whose ages range from 18 to 32, made their initial appearances in San Diego federal court on Monday. A detention hearing to discuss possible bail has been set for Wednesday.

The defendants are facing a charge of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, and one of them is facing additional charges for conspiracy to use a cross-border tunnel and conspiracy to import controlled substances. Two of the defendants are from San Diego, and two from Mexico, officials said.

The Homeland Security Investigations Tunnel Task Force began monitoring the Buy 4 Less store on Roll Drive in December because investigators suspected it was the access point for a tunnel under construction, according to court records. The business, which appeared to be a liquidation store, was located in a commercial plaza within walking distance of the Otay Mesa Port of Entry.

Officials said the tunnel was found concealed under the floor of a storage room. [image_2] In court documents, prosecutors alleged that the activity around the store “did not appear to be consistent with a normal retail location,” adding that investigators observed “minimal foot traffic from customers coming in and out” of the store.

Prosecutors described “unusual activity,” which included people transporting large numbers of suitcases out of the store and into vehicles or walking them across the border into Tijuana. Authorities said the suitcases appeared to be empty.

On Friday, agents observed a man loading three large, heavy items into a white van. The van then moved from the Otay Mesa store to a spot on the street near a mechanic shop on Coolidge Avenue in National City.

This led to an operation, with assistance from the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office, resulting in the arrests. [image_3] “It was a unified surveillance operation,” said HSI Special Agent in Charge Kevin Murphy.

“We had partnership with all members of the HSTF San Diego, conducted long hours of surveillance, observed as the cartel members attempted to move narcotics from the tunnel exit to a secondary stash house location,” he said. Murphy added that authorities stopped all the vehicles involved, arrested the four suspects and seized the narcotics.

Based on the surveillance, he said it is believed that Friday was the first time the cross-border tunnel was used to move drugs. “Cocaine is now the lifeblood of the cartels, and what you see here today is a cardiac arrest for their system,” said Gordon, the U.S.

attorney for the district. [image_4] Since 1993, officials said that 99 tunnels have been discovered in San Diego and Imperial counties, 28 of which were considered sophisticated.

“With the new technology that we’re deploying as part of our border wall system, we now have the ability to detect these tunnels working with our partners amongst the entire Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice interagency effort and stop them before they’re able to produce massive amounts of dangerous and poisonous drugs into our community,” said Chief Patrol Agent Justin De La Torre for the U.S. Border Patrol’s San Diego sector.

“Had the cartel been successful, thousands of pounds of dangerous drugs would have been distributed throughout the entire country and beyond,” he added. Mexican authorities located the entrance to the tunnel inside a house in the Nueva Tijuana neighborhood of Tijuana after executing a search warrant on Saturday, according to the Mexican Attorney General’s Office.

The office reported the discovery of the tunnel on Sunday. Mexican officials called the operation “a direct blow to the operation, transport routes, and logistics schemes used for drug trafficking.”