Tag: Drug Smuggle

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Drug Tunnel Found

drug tunnel

Marijuana Seized From Drug Tunnel

A ton of cocaine and seven tons of marijuana were seized from a cross-border tunnel that stretched from a Tijuana, Mexico, home to a San Diego, California, suburb, U.S. authorities said Wednesday.

“We believe this to be the longest tunnel that we have discovered in this district to date,” said Laura Duffy, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California.

Half-Mile Tunnel Found on US-Mexico Border, Cocaine Seized

Authorities arrested six people and seized more than 2,000 pounds of cocaine and more than 14,000 pounds of marijuana. The cocaine is valued at around $22 million.

“We believe this to be the largest single seizure of cocaine related to a tunnel in the California-Mexico border,” Duffy said.

At about 3-feet wide, the tunnel measured the length of more than eight football fields (nearly a half-mile) and was equipped with lights, ventilation, a rail system and a motorized freight elevator capable of carrying up to 10 people, according to federal officials.

The six arrested in San Diego were charged with various drug trafficking and tunnel-related charges, including conspiracy to import and distribute cocaine and conspiracy to use a border tunnel.

Authorities said there have been more than a dozen secret passages found along California’s border with Mexico since 2006.

In the past five years, federal authorities have detected more than 75 cross-border smuggling tunnels, most of them in California and Arizona.

part 2

OTAY MESA, Calif. – A new drug tunnel was discovered at an Otay Mesa outdoor wood pallet storage facility Tuesday, marking the third such discovery in a month.

Border Patrol agents were seen standing outside the fenced-off Otay Pallets business lot on Marconi Drive, about 1000 feet from the Tijuana-San Diego border.

In Tijuana, federal officers were guarding a house east of the Tijuana airport in an area known as colonia Nueva Tijuana.

That is said to be the south point of the tunnel.

Authorities from the US Attorney’s Office would not comment on the investigation Tuesday afternoon although they’ve called for a news conference on Wednesday at the site.

One man who works in the area said he recently became suspicious of the pallet operation, which had been open for about a year.

“Once I saw them put up cameras inside I knew something was going on,” said the man who did not want to be identified.

He also said he believes agents found the tunnel on Sunday.

“They were here last night and the night before, I came in and was like what’s going on and they said they shut everything down.”

Last Friday, a cross-border tunnel was discovered near Calexico by an El Centro Sector Border Patrol agent who was conducting routine patrol duties, CBP agent stated.  The agent noticed a depression in the soil along the banks of the All-American Canal, exposing an 18-inch hole with lumber and electrical wiring inside, according to the release.

Drug tunnel found at warehouse in Otay Mesa.

About four weeks ago, four people were arrestedafter Border Patrol agents located an alleged secret drug tunnel underneath a three-bedroom house in Calexico, authorities said. The tunnel’s entrance was inside a restaurant in Mexicali, Mexico.

 

 

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Arizona Drug Smuggle

Arizona Drug Smuggle

Arizona Man Arrested for Drug Smuggle Bust

 

DOUGLAS – Two Arizona men were caught attempting to smuggle thousands of dollars of marijuana near Tucson.

Customs and Border Protection officials arrested a 65-year-old Douglas man who attempted to sneak marijuana taped underneath his arms.

The 65-year-old Arizona man reportedly had more than three pounds of marijuana underneath his armpits, worth $1,600.

A 32-year-old Phoenix man was also arrested at the Douglas border crossing after he was found with 114 pounds of marijuana in the quarter panels and fuel tank of his vehicle.

The drugs were worth around $57,000.

Both men were turned over to officials and the evidence was seized

part 2

Arizona officials have arrested 76 people suspected in the smuggling of at least $2 billion worth of drugs through the state’s western desert in coordination with Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel.

“We in Arizona continue to stand and fight the Mexican drug cartels, who think they own the place,” Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu said in a statement about the investigation, dubbed Operation Pipeline Express.

“While this is a historic drug bust, sadly this represents only a fraction of what my deputies face every day,” Babeu said.

The arrests were made during a series of recent raids.

Officials said the ring, based in Chandler, Stanfield and Maricopa, used backpackers and trucks to move drugs from the border to a network of stash houses in the Phoenix area. After arriving in Phoenix, the smugglers sold the drugs, which included marijuana, cocaine and heroin, to distributors from various states.

Virginia Kice, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said the  smugglers succeeded at first because they had established control over an 80-mile stretch of the border from Yuma to Sells, Ariz.

“They had gained a virtual monopoly over a swath of the Arizona border,” she said.

Kice said investigators believe some of those arrested are U.S.-based bosses in the Sinaloa cartel.

“Through our joint efforts, we’ve sent a resounding message to the Mexican cartels that Arizona is off limits to their operatives,” Matthew Allen, special agent in charge of Homeland Security investigations in Arizona, said in a statement.

Officials posted video from the investigation online, including surveillance video of trucks being loaded and driven down desert roads, Border Patrol officers inspecting a roofing truck packed with large bricks of marijuana, and sheriff’s teams making arrests during nighttime raids.

The 17-month investigation, which began with a traffic stop by Pinal County sheriff’s deputies, included three “large-scale enforcement actions”: one last week, another earlier this month and a third last month, according to ICE.

During last week’s raids, authorities seized more than 2 tons of marijuana, 19 weapons and nearly $200,000 in cash, the agency said. It estimates that the drug ring smuggled more than 3.3 million pounds of marijuana, 20,000 pounds of cocaine and 10,000 pounds of heroin into the United States during the last five years.

 

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