Otay Mesa-Tijuana Drug Tunnel Discovered During Massive Drug Bust

An elaborate drug tunnel connecting Mexico and the U.S. was discovered when officials seized 20 tons of marijuana during a raid, according to the LA Times.

The roughly 1,800-foot passageway was no temporary affair, outfitted with rail, light and ventilation systems. The tunnel, which was the "length of six football fields," notes Reuters, connected the Mexican city of Tijuana with Otay Mesa, California. On the Mexican side of the border, officials seized four additional tons of marijuana from a warehouse that hid the other entrance.

The Tijuana-Otay Mesa pipeline was also the route of the longest such tunnel ever discovered, a 2,400-foot long corridor discovered in 2006, according to Reuters. Officials have discovered 125 drug smuggling tunnels since the 1990s, reports the AP.

Recently, the Mexican drug war has ramped up, with bloody massacres spreading terror across the country. In October, the largest Mexican drug bust in recent years yielded 105 tons of marijuana.

Comments

[Kelly Kettle]

01:40 PM on 11/05/2010

Wow as a world we are going to one day all agree that anything you have to smuggle in underground may be bad, Drugs block out reality what is the future in that for reals.
http://www.stopoxy.com

[AZAFVET]

05:36 PM on 11/04/2010

Wow, it took Phoenix years to install light rail. Maybe we should have hired the drug cartels.

[etebol2003]

04:33 PM on 11/04/2010

Legalize it already, instead of spending money trying to stop Mexican Swag (which by the way is terrible). We could be ripping on the Billions of dollars MJ can create. I know somebody is going to say...oh tha is going to create more crime here, but for 1/10 of the money we spend internationally fighting drug cartels we could police the MJ, ery tightly providing a safe bussines environment for those who want to take that route and also safe for the patients who need it. By the way I do not smoke MJ, but I respect, understand and tolerate those who do. I mean, don't we do that for those who drink alcohol????

[4eyes]

04:27 PM on 11/04/2010

Wow. Only 299 tunnels still in operation. How's that prohibition thingee working?

[horsey]

10:01 PM on 11/04/2010

probably more like a 1000

[GiantsFan44]

04:20 PM on 11/04/2010

This is nothing new, they have been attempting to build tunnels in San Diego for years. They take all the necessary life support and live down there while they are digging and re-enforcing the walls. There have been many such tunnels discovered in San Diego.

[Walter H]

04:18 PM on 11/04/2010

Legalize it f'r gawds sake.

[TexasDem0]

03:27 PM on 11/04/2010

Something is seriously wrong here. We used technology in Vietnam to monitor seismic activity that was sensitive enough to pick up footsteps. Digging this tunnel would have been much easier to detect. Who is providing cover for these operations?

[sbrannon]

04:23 PM on 11/04/2010

And they say we can read the words on a piece of paper from space. I agree with you...who?

[omobob]

01:57 PM on 11/04/2010

Attention shoppers in Arizona. Walls are for climbing over or going under. Time for a reality check for Gov. Brewer. BTW: what did she spend the 4 billion in Fed stimulus on?

[5SpdSolara]

01:38 PM on 11/04/2010

Uncle Sammy wants to instill fear as close to home in order to justify war efforts abroad. This violence down South also helps to ensure that our national threat level monitors remains high. We are a group of controlled lab rats and this is our little lab forum of freedom. Game on!

[Ismael P Ayala]

10:24 PM on 11/04/2010

i couldn´t agree more with you SOLARA! The U.S has always worked the same way and these times aren´t any different , war is one of the biggest industries in the U.S if not the biggest and well citicens of the U.S are controlled by the white house monopolized media so yes...Game on!

[Sara Lira]

01:22 PM on 11/04/2010

One question?

Why is Mexico so corrupted?
Maybe the Spaniards should have left their ideas at home and let the Native Mexicans rule the land... mmm i wonder how Mexico would be like if the Aztecs remained?

[omobob]

01:55 PM on 11/04/2010

tell me you are not blaming the Spanish for the drug violence and corruption in Northern Mexico.? Did you forget the French and Americans both defeated and occupied Mexico. Besides the johnny come lately Aztecs there were the Olmecs. Unfortunately they were rubbed out by the Aztecs. Northern Mexico has a large population of Metezos and native Yaki’s. Your wonderings are border line racists generalizations. Be careful where you step. I believe you just stepped ion it, No?

[radmo]

03:01 PM on 11/04/2010

I hate it when I step on an ion. It is just so.........unstable.

[blitznstitch]

01:06 PM on 11/04/2010

WOW, it is time to use ground penetrating radar devices to detect these tunnels. The technology exists because that is how mining companies and explorers find minerals and caves underground.

[YaYaCrew]

11:51 AM on 11/04/2010

I just got back from spending 3 weeks in San Diego - had the dubious opportunity to drive thru Otay Mesa. When I got back to SD, my sister told me that Mexicans cross the border and behead other Mexicans. Sure was glad my Fiance & I are blonde & American!

[GiantsFan44]

04:23 PM on 11/04/2010

You have a link to that story? I mean it must be in the San Diego papers right?

[radmo]

11:45 AM on 11/04/2010

Maybe all these tunnels being dug, turning the land into tierra not-so-firma, will solve the problem for us; the land collapses, the Pacific rushes in and presto.......instant moat :-).

[Sara Lira]

01:17 PM on 11/04/2010

you mean cut off Mexico and give t a push so it can drift away to bug another continent?

[radmo]

02:59 PM on 11/04/2010

Well, I doubt that the tunneling network is that extensive.

[Heidland]

11:16 AM on 11/04/2010

How is that failed mary-jane legalization looking to you now California?

One wonders how much tax revenue could have been generated off of four tons of weed...

[GiantsFan44]

04:24 PM on 11/04/2010

I voted in favor. Humboldt County did not. It is much too profitable for them to legalize it.

[JoeLeland]

11:15 AM on 11/04/2010

I maintain > That is debatable, remember we have 30 million illegal Mexicans that would jump at the chance of having support to take back their homeland from the criminals that forced them out.
Viva Poncho Villa! Viva Zapata !
Joe in Texas.
I do not recommend U.S. soldiers, I state > we have 30 million illegal Mexicans here that would more than likely jump at the chance of having support to take their homeland back from the criminals that forced them out.
I know these men well, they are tough, honest, hard working people, with a long history of rebellion. By allowing them to escape into the U.S. we have successfully thwarted any resistance to the Criminal Status Quo in Mexico. As well as the obvious flight of the best and brightest from their homeland. Viva Zapata !”

[Pandoras Folly]

11:35 AM on 11/04/2010

true th porous american border is a safety valve that prevents the build up of political pressure necessary for real change for the mexican government.

[JoeLeland]

12:44 PM on 11/04/2010

FnF for sanity.