Feds Charge 4 Suspects After Finding Massive Drug Smuggling Tunnel

A traffic stop in a San Diego County border town led federal investigators to a sophisticated tunnel hidden inside a retail store.

Federal investigators discovered this sophisticated tunnel at a retail store in the border town of Otay Mesa, California, and Tijuana, Mexico. The passageway descends 55 feet and is nearly 2,000 feet long with electricity and ventilation. U.S. Department of Justice

Authorities charged four suspects on June 1 with felony drug distribution violations after finding a hidden tunnel used by drug runners inside a retail store in San Diego County that led into Tijuana, Mexico.

Investigators also seized more than a ton of cocaine worth about $45 million in connection with the subterranean tunnel, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the U.S. Homeland Security’s Tunnel Task Force in charge of the operation.