The digs in Hogan’s Heroes and the Good Escape had nothing on the Mexico tunnel. The Mexico tunnel is a cannabis smuggling passageway linking San Diego and Tijuana. The Drug Enforcement Agency stumbled upon the 900-yard long Mexico tunnel Nov. 2 and found 30 tons of cannabis.
Drug cartel probably dug Mexico tunnel
The Mexico tunnel linked warehouses in San Diego and Tijuana where drug smugglers stored their stash. A Mexican drug cartel is probably responsible for digging the Mexico tunnel considering how much it would have cost to do the whole thing. A Drug Enforcement Agency investigation started Tuesday when DEA agents noticed a suspicious looking semi-truck leaving a warehouse in an industrial area near the Mexican border. The truck was stopped at a Border Patrol checkpoint and 10 tons of marijuana were in the trailer. DEA agents then raided the warehouse and found one more 10 to 15 tons of weed.
Pot worth $20 million seized
A closet in a small opening in the floor had been where the DEA agents found the Mexico tunnel. The passageway that was found was lighted and ventilated. It had been 20 feet under the ground and six football fields long. One more warehouse in Mexico had been at the end of the tunnel. They found more marijuana there too. About 4 tons more were taken when Mexican authorities were told about it. The DEA said the marijuana taken in would cost a lot of money. It had been about $20 million worth.
Not much of a dent in drug traffic
Drug cartels are going more and more underground since there has been a crackdown on drug smuggling leading to the Mexico tunnel. 150 tons of marijuana were seized by Mexican authorities last month. This bust in Tijuana had been the largest in Mexican history to be recorded. The Christian Science Monitor, however, questioned whether or not the recent seizures would make a difference in stemming the torrent of illegal drugs flowing across the border from Mexico into the U.S. The Mexican government had a PR victory with the drug busts, Sarah Miller of the Monitor says. Miller ended up with an angry letter from the Mexican U.S. ambassador because of this.
Articles cited
Los Angeles Times
latimes.com/news/local/la-me-1104-drug-tunnel-20101104,0,595478.story
ABC News
abcnews.go.com/News/secret-tunnels-mexico-us-smuggling-drugs-guns-people/story?id=12057362&page=2
Christian Science Monitor
csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2010/1020/Mexico-seizes-105-tons-of-marijuana-in-Tijuana.-Does-it-matter
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