Border Patrol Shuts Down ‘Sophisticated’ Drug Smuggling Tunnel

U.S. Border Patrol in the San Diego Sector shut down a “sophisticated” drug-smuggling tunnel extending from Mexico into California.

With the Trump administration border security crackdown, criminals whose drug trafficking businesses boomed under Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are no doubt looking for secretive alternate routes into the United States. In 2023, an estimated 72,700+ Americans died in fentanyl-related overdoses, which was tied to the border crisis. Fentanyl-related deaths increased significantly over the last decade, but they particularly shot up the Biden administration years, from 56,500 in 2020 to 70,600 in 2021.

“As we continue to strengthen the nation’s air, and maritime border security, it’s not surprising that foreign terrorist organizations would resort to underground routes,” said Jeffrey D. Stalnaker, who is the acting chief patrol agent of the San Diego Sector. “Disruption of narcotics smuggling tunnels is critical to protecting American lives. I’m grateful for the exceptional work of the Tunnel Team agents who placed themselves in danger, as well as the cooperation of our Mexican law enforcement partners.”

According to the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) press release, the newly shut down tunnel reached over a thousand feet into U.S. territory, and was still in the process of construction.

San Diego Border Patrol (BP) agents originally identified the tunnel while it was being built in April, CBP explained. BP’s Tunnel Team went into the underground structure, which crossed underneath the Otay Mesa Port of Entry. The “preliminary indications” were that the smugglers’ tunnel probably exited close to or within a nearby commercial warehouse facility.

BP’s subsequent investigation uncovered the fact that the tunnel had been equipped not only with lighting and electrical wiring, but also with ventilation systems and a track system which helped the smugglers to transport significant amounts of contraband drugs.

When agents made the first entry into the tunnel, they encountered multiple makeshift barricades. These barricades were placed haphazardly by the tunnel workers in an apparent effort to impede agents’ southbound progress and the eventual identification of the tunnel’s origin.
Agents carefully mapped the tunnel, which measured 2,918 feet in total length. Inside, the tunnel dimensions measured 42 inches in height, 28 inches in width and ran approximately 50 feet underground at its deepest point. On Monday, Border Patrol in collaboration with Homeland Security Investigations and Government of Mexico authorities worked to locate the origin point of the tunnel. The entrance was located within a residence in the Nueva Tijuana neighborhood. Mexican authorities served a warrant at the location and found the entrance to the tunnel had recently been concealed by freshly laid tile.

Over 95 tunnels have been identified and decommissioned in the San Diego Sector alone since 1993, CBP noted.

With Donald Trump in office, CBP officers can finally do their jobs and shut down the vast drug and human smuggling network that grew so lucrative under Joe “Open Borders” Biden.

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