Authorities have discovered “the most sophisticated [drug] tunnel in U.S. history” in San Luis, Arizona, a small town on the Mexican border near Yuma, Arizona. 

The incomplete tunnel, measuring nearly 1 meter wide and 1.2 meters high, had its own ventilation, water and electrical systems and a railway. It extended 136 meters into San Luis Colorado, Sonora.

The tunnel had no access on the U.S. side, officials said.

“Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and our esteemed law enforcement partners swiftly and effectively worked together to uncover and dismantle a cross-border tunnel for smuggling purposes into the United States,” said Scott Brown, special agent in charge in Phoenix. “Despite the international pandemic, HSI and our law enforcement colleagues remain resilient and committed to pursuing dangerous criminal trans-border smuggling activities along the southwest border.”

Agents first discovered a sinkhole in the desert at the border fence and began drilling on July 27, turning up scraps of wood and water hoses as well as a cavernous space. A remote camera inserted underground allowed them to discover the tunnel.

“This appears to be the most sophisticated tunnel in U.S. history, and certainly the most sophisticated I’ve seen in my career,” said a border patrol agent.

Border tunnels, most often used to smuggle drugs into the U.S., are found fairly frequently and this was the seventh discovered in the Yuma area.

In March, contractors working on the border wall found boards that appeared to shore up a tunnel underneath a sinkhole. HSI agents coordinated with Mexican counterparts who discovered a similar sinkhole on the Mexican side, as well as a two-meter-long ladder nearby.

Source: Azfamily (en)