It still blows my mind whenever I see a story about the insanely drastic lengths that drug smugglers will go to just to get drugs over the border. I’ve seen stories of drug lords down in South America building backyard boats and submarines in order to smuggle their cargo under the radar to make a profit. They put lives at risk and have no concern for anything other than making money. They are draining tax payer dollars by constantly trying to evade police and breaking laws. They are often very successful and ship incomprehensible amounts of illegal substances over the border before they’re caught. Well this is a slightly different case and what happened is just crazy. Police were tipped off about a possible drug house in Tijuana. When they decided to investigate, they found much more than they bargained for.
Police in Tijuana were tipped off about a possible drug smuggling operation and decided to make a raid. They showed up in full force expecting to find large quantities of illegal substances.
They broke down doors and charged into the residence. During their sweep they happened to open up the wardrobe closet and found something they were not expecting. A trap door.
The police actually found an opening that led 66 feet below the wardrobe closet. They had discovered a tunnel that led towards the US border.
They followed the tunnel and after 500 feet they actually ran into drug smugglers who were in the middle of digging. The tunnel wasn’t completed and police caught the smugglers in the act.
The drug smugglers had electrical lines ran as well as ventilation feeding the deep tunnel. They found smugglers digging with shovels and filling up 5 gallon buckets with dirt to take to the surface.
The workers had constructed wooden carts to assist them in moving the heavy buckets. They had a small cheap mining operation that would end up paying them big in the end if they were able to complete the drug smuggling tunnel.
The tunnel was located roughly 22 miles from San Diego, California near a Mexican Air Force base and police station. They were bound to be caught sooner or later.
Authorities also found 44 pounds of marijuana at the site. It’s safe to assume that these people were going to smuggle drugs and guns through this tunnel to sell on American soil.
The authorities seized a truck parked at the location that the smugglers were using to carry the dirt away. They dug the 500 foot tunnel in just a couple of weeks, one bucket at a time.
A total of 9 people were apprehended at the scene. These drug smuggling tunnels are all along the US/Mexico border and authorities are hard at work investigating leads and trying to stop these criminals.
Take a look at a video of the drug smuggling tunnel below.
These drug smugglers were caught red-handed just in time. If they had completed the tunnel, who knows the amount of illegal substances that would have been trafficked into the United States. The authorities prevented some serious consequences and may have saved many lives thanks to their investigation. They also prevented millions of dollars from being funneled to illegal operations south of the border.