A drug smuggling border tunnel equipped with a rail system and air conditioning, was discovered connecting San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico this week, U.S. authorities said, as reported by The Associated Press and The Daily Telegraph.
U.S. authorities said that the latest find is part of a number of secret passages in recent years used for drug smuggling, news reports said. More than 75 tunnels have been discovered along the U.S.-Mexico border since 2008. The tunnel is the eighth major passage discovered in San Diego since 2006, "a period during which Mexico's Sinaloa cartel has solidified its hold on the prized smuggling corridor," The AP also reported.
Mexican news organizations had published photos, which reveal a "deep, well-built tunnel near Tijuana's public safety chief," according to the The AP.
"The tunnel was equipped with electric rail cars, lighting and ventilation. Wooden planks lined the floor."
The tunnels are largely concentrated along the border in California and Arizona. San Diego is also popular because "its clay-like soil is easy to dig. In Nogales, Arizona, smugglers tap into vast underground drainage canals," The AP reported.
Authorities in 2011 found a 600-yard tunnel, which resulted in seizures of 32 tons of marijuana, with 26 tons on the U.S. side accounting for one of the largest busts in U.S. history.
The Sinaloa Cartel represents Mexico's largest and most powerful drug gang, "controlling huge swaths of territory along the U.S. border. It operates a thriving trade which in recent years its kingpin Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman, a spot on the Forbes ist of the world's richest people, with a fortune of an estimated $1 billion in 2012," The Daily Telegraph also reported.
An estimated 70,000 people have died in Mexican drug wars, and from its government's crackdown against cartels, news reports said.
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