Posted on 05/01/2017 7:04:20 AM PDT by SandRat
NACO – An incomplete cross-border tunnel was uncovered by a construction worker clearing old fencing near Naco.
According to Christopher Sullivan, a public information officer and Border Patrol agent based out of the Tucson sector, the construction worker contacted Tucson Sector Border Patrol agents at the Brian A. Terry Station to report a “possible smuggling tunnel.” Following an investigation, agents discovered the unfinished tunnel.
“The tunnel was approximately 15 feet deep and extended into the United States about four feet from the international boundary fence,” he said. “The tunnel has no ventilation or lighting.”
The tunnel has already been filled with concrete and dirt and construction teams have continued to deploy fencing.
“I went out after and I couldn’t even find where it was,” said Michael Hyatt, who serves as the patrol agent in charge with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection out of the Brian A. Terry Station in Naco.
Though that particular tunnel has been filled, Hyatt said that he’s always concerned with what smugglers are doing.
“There were no indicators to exploit in defining how long that tunnel has been around, but it couldn’t be too old,” he said, adding that the individual — or individuals — may have started and stopped short as to not make too much of investment on the tunnel. “Nothing made it through that tunnel.”
In the area that fencing is being replaced, Hyatt explained that agents can now see through to the other side. In a previous interview with the Herald/Review, he explained that the new fence will measure 18-feet above the ground, including a 4-foot steel plate placed at the top of the fence. Other portions of the border have double-mesh panels, usually reinforced with a steel post in the center of 4-foot wide sections. The steel girders are positioned at an angle to prevent easy ascent, placed in a concrete-foundation several feet below ground, and are pointed at the top, where the large steel plate is attached. Each of the girders is then filled with concrete.
Border Patrol agents from the Douglas Station also recently discovered a collapsed illicit tunnel near the Raul Hector Castro Port of Entry.
According to officials, a city employee reported a suspicious opening just south of Chino Road. Following an investigation, agents confirmed the tunnel once extended into the United States approximately 60 yards. The tunnel is adjacent to a sewer line and had cut through a tunnel previously remediated.
Based on assessments made by the Tucson Sector tunnel team, the tunnel showed no signs of recent use and had collapsed about 25 feet from its opening. This tunnel was closed off on Thursday, April 27.
“Maybe we should dump nuclear waste in them”
I was talking to an Israeli kid (20-something) that is going to school here to be a tunnel engineer. I quipped “Maybe you can use your knowledge to destroy the Pali’s tunnels.”
He laughed - he was (and now Reserve) a tunnel guy - seek and destroy. He said that if that can’t destroy it right away they get a sewage disposal truck and pump a bunch of crap into them to make them unusable quickly and on the cheap. He said he wished that was standard on all of the tunnels before they destroyed them!
soaked the tennis balls in flammable liquid - then launch same way- easier to see as flaming torch across the sky
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