Posted on 05/15/2006 5:01:35 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
SAN DIEGO – U.S. authorities dug Monday into a crudely constructed cross-border tunnel that exits near a San Ysidro parking lot. Investigators could not say whether the tunnel had been completed.
Drug cartels are suspected of building the cross border tunnels as a means of smuggling narcotics into the United States.
The tunnel was found Friday, said Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, but authorities disclosed little information on its discovery.
“It was a result of an ongoing investigation,” Mack said Monday. “The investigation continued until agents opened it up at 6 a.m. this morning.”
The tunnel is 3 feet by 4 feet and extends about 20 yards into the United States, passing under a concrete ditch. The tunnel's U.S. exit was found in a area near the parking lot.
The lot is the private parking facility close to the border, and it is often used by people who prefer to park their cars on the U.S. side and enter Mexico on foot.
A U.S. agent explored the tunnel from the U.S. side Monday, but came back out after encountering a pile of dirt blocking the way.
On the Mexican side, various investigators were looking for the tunnel entrance in the Mexican customs zone, federal property along the fence where other tunnel entrances have been found.
This is the second cross-border tunnel found this month along San Diego's southern border, Mack said. It is in an area where other tunnels have been found over the years.
No drugs were in the tunnel being investigated Monday.
A sophisticated tunnel found in January in Otay Mesa was a half-mile long, reinforced and had a concrete floor. Its U.S. exit was in a warehouse office. Two tons of marijuana were found inside that tunnel.
This is becoming almost routine in the SD border area.
mexico is our friend.
Move along, nothing to see here, folks...
``The United States is not going to militarize the southern border. Mexico is our neighbor and our friend,'' Bush said.
Shocking! Actually, no surprise another one has turned up. For every one we find I wonder how many over the nearly 2000 miles we don't know about.
Larry King was just there tonight. Hmmm...
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