Two tons of marijuana seized in record Tijuana-Otay Mesa tunnel
US and Mexican agents entered a 2,400-foot lit and ventilated tunnel from a warehouse near Tijuana airport to Otay Mesa on 25 January 2006, seizing two tons of marijuana on the Mexican side and 200 pounds on the US side. No arrests were reported in what was then the longest cross-border tunnel in US history.
Acting on tips, Mexican authorities found the entrance of a 2,400-foot tunnel
running from a small warehouse near Tijuana airport to a large warehouse in
Otay Mesa, San Diego, and agents entered the passage on Wednesday 25 January
2006.[1][2]US agents had hunted the tunnel for over a year with classified
military detection equipment without finding it.[1]
The tunnel ran nearly half a mile through sandstone and compacted sand,
fitted with lighting, ventilation and groundwater drainage, with chest-high
water at its deepest point more than nine stories down.[1]Investigators
called it the longest cross-border tunnel in US history and the work of a
well-funded smuggling group.[1]The head of the San Diego DEA office named
the Arellano-Felix Tijuana cartel as the usual suspects.[1]
Two tons seized, no arrests
Mexican agents seized two tons of marijuana on the Mexican side while their
US counterparts found 200 pounds at the Otay Mesa end.[1][2]Neither side
reported any arrests.[1]Agents said their work was just beginning, poring
over the site for fingerprints, DNA, phones and computers to link the builders
and operators.[1]Activity at the 48,222-square-foot Otay Mesa warehouse had
stopped abruptly the previous October after busy months of trucks moving
through its twelve docks.[1]
Photos and video
The 2,400-foot tunnel runs from a warehouse near Tijuana's airport to the Otay Mesa warehouse.Photo details
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Source: San Diego Union-TribuneInvestigators at the tunnel opening inside the Otay Mesa warehouse.Photo details
Mexican authorities found the tunnel entrance on Tuesday 24 January and agents entered it on Wednesday 25 January; 25 January is used as the event date.
The two tons are a US-ton figure reported as approximate, converted here with the reported 200 pounds.
A second, crude unfinished tunnel found near San Ysidro the same week is a separate event left out here.
Neither side reported any arrests.
Wikinews draws on the Union-Tribune and Associated Press accounts of the same find, so it corroborates rather than fully independently witnesses the event.
The listed photo addresses are the publisher's original image locations, which no longer serve the files, so the entries stay links.
Capital Guardia Municipal officers seized about 47.3 grams of marijuana abandoned in a bag in the Juan Ruiz de Alarcón park in colonia Virreyes, San Luis Potosí. The man seen allegedly consuming the drug fled and was not detained; the packaged herb was sent to the State Attorney General's Office for investigation.
Guanajuato state police say K9 dog Momo flagged 12 parcels in a Salamanca messaging firm holding 111 vapes, 42 apparently with marijuana, plus parts for two long guns. The seized items were placed at the disposal of the corresponding authorities; no detainees were reported.
Municipal, state and army officers seized 31 parcels of suspected marijuana and 23 wrappers of a substance like crystal in San Juan de Abajo, Bahía de Banderas, plus an abandoned Honda XR motorcycle. No one was arrested after the rider reportedly fled, and prosecutors were left to identify him.
National Guard officers found about 1.585 kg of suspected marijuana, 56 vape devices with apparent cannabis oil, three cigarettes and 15 gummies in parcels at Querétaro International Airport, plus an object resembling a firearm. Federal prosecutors opened an investigation into offences against health and transport of a firearm, and no arrests were reported.
