{"id":838172,"date":"2026-06-02T03:01:28","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T03:01:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/838172\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T03:01:28","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T03:01:28","slug":"four-charged-more-than-1-ton-of-cocaine-seized-in-connection-with-cross-border-tunnel-in-otay-mesa-san-diego-union-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/838172\/","title":{"rendered":"Four charged, more than 1 ton of cocaine seized in connection with cross-border tunnel in Otay Mesa \u2013 San Diego Union-Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"

Four people were charged following a month-long federal drug investigation that led to the discovery of a cross-border tunnel<\/a> stretching from a Tijuana home to a supposed discount store in Otay Mesa, officials said Monday.<\/p>\n

The 1,933-foot-long passageway, which federal officials said was \u201camong the most sophisticated\u201d ever found along the San Diego border, was equipped with reinforced walls, a rail system, electricity and a ventilation system. It ran 55 feet underground, and the tunnel itself was 4.5 feet tall.<\/p>\n

Investigators said the tunnel was being used to smuggle cocaine. Federal authorities seized 851 packages of the drug, weighing over 1 ton and estimated to be worth $45 million, as part of the operation, according to court records.<\/p>\n

\"InsideInside the border tunnel that ends at Buy 4 Less in Otay Mesa. (U.S. Customs and Border Protection)<\/p>\n

U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon said that it was believed the tunnel was the work of the Jalisco Nueva Generaci\u00f3n cartel<\/a>, also known by the acronym CJNG.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor those defendants, they thought they saw a light at the end of the tunnel,\u201d Gordon said at a news conference Monday. \u201cIn fact, what they saw were our lights and sirens.\u201d<\/p>\n

The four defendants, whose ages range from 18 to 32, made their initial appearances in San Diego federal court on Monday. A detention hearing to discuss possible bail has been set for Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The defendants are facing a charge of conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, and one of them is facing additional charges for conspiracy to use a cross-border tunnel and conspiracy to import controlled substances. Two of the defendants are from San Diego, and two from Mexico, officials said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The Homeland Security Investigations Tunnel Task Force began monitoring the Buy 4 Less store on Roll Drive in December because investigators suspected it was the access point for a tunnel under construction, according to court records.<\/p>\n

The business, which appeared to be a liquidation store, was located in a commercial plaza within walking distance of the Otay Mesa Port of Entry. Officials said the tunnel was found concealed under the floor of a storage room.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe exit to a cross-border drug tunnel in a business on Roll Drive near the Otay Mesa Port of Entry in San Diego. (U.S. Customs and Border Protection)<\/p>\n

In court documents, prosecutors alleged that the activity around the store \u201cdid not appear to be consistent with a normal retail location,\u201d adding that investigators observed \u201cminimal foot traffic from customers coming in and out\u201d of the store.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors described \u201cunusual activity,\u201d which included people transporting large numbers of suitcases out of the store and into vehicles or walking them across the border into Tijuana. Authorities said the suitcases appeared to be empty.<\/p>\n

On Friday, agents observed a man loading three large, heavy items into a white van. The van then moved from the Otay Mesa store to a spot on the street near a mechanic shop on Coolidge Avenue in National City. This led to an operation, with assistance from the San Diego County Sheriff\u2019s Office, resulting in the arrests.<\/p>\n

\"AA U.S. border agent accesses the exit of a cross-border tunnel that ends in an Otay Mesa business. (U.S. Customs and Border Protection)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a unified surveillance operation,\u201d said HSI Special Agent in Charge Kevin Murphy. \u201cWe had partnership with all members of the HSTF San Diego, conducted long hours of surveillance, observed as the cartel members attempted to move narcotics from the tunnel exit \u2026 to a secondary stash house location,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Murphy added that authorities stopped all the vehicles involved, arrested the four suspects and seized the narcotics. Based on the surveillance, he said it is believed that Friday was the first time the cross-border tunnel was used to move drugs.<\/p>\n

\u201cCocaine is now the lifeblood of the cartels, and what you see here today is a cardiac arrest for their system,\u201d said Gordon, the U.S. attorney for the district.<\/p>\n

\"CBPCBP Director of Field Operations Sidney Aki at a news conference outside a border tunnel Monday. (Carlos Moreno \/ For The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n

Since 1993, officials said that 99 tunnels have been discovered in San Diego and Imperial counties, 28 of which were considered sophisticated.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the new technology that we\u2019re deploying as part of our border wall system, we now have the ability to detect these tunnels working with our partners amongst the entire Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice interagency effort and stop them before they\u2019re able to produce massive amounts of dangerous and poisonous drugs into our community,\u201d said Chief Patrol Agent Justin De La Torre for the U.S. Border Patrol\u2019s San Diego sector.<\/p>\n

\u201cMake no mistake. Had the cartel been successful, thousands of pounds of dangerous drugs would have been distributed throughout the entire country and beyond,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Mexican authorities located the entrance to the tunnel inside a house in the Nueva Tijuana neighborhood of Tijuana after executing a search warrant on Saturday, according to the Mexican Attorney General\u2019s Office. The office reported the discovery<\/a> of the tunnel on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Mexican officials called the operation \u201ca direct blow to the operation, transport routes, and logistics schemes used for drug trafficking.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Four people were charged following a month-long federal drug investigation that led to the discovery of a cross-border…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":838173,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,42364,55354,1582,276,356,5295,1370,728,50,80348,3549,3550,7264,34159,55993,7289,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-838172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-america","tag-baja-california","tag-border-baja-california","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-courts","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-otay-mesa","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-county","tag-sandiego","tag-south-county","tag-tijuana","tag-top-stories-sdut","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116678289461515407","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=838172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838172\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/838173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=838172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=838172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=838172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}