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Longest Ever Smuggling Tunnel Discovered On Border Between Mexico And US

Longest Ever Smuggling Tunnel Discovered On Border Between Mexico And US

It's illegal, but it's impressive...

Tom Wood

Tom Wood

The US Border Force has discovered the longest ever smuggling tunnel below the country's border with Mexico.

Clocking in at more than three quarters of a mile, the underground tunnel heads from an industrial unit in Tijuana on the Mexican side, right the way through to San Diego, California.

Despite the fact that it is hugely illegal, and a massive problem, it's something of a feat of engineering.

It is five and a half feet tall, and two feet wide. It has it's own extensive rail cart system, as well as an elevator at the entrance, a drainage system, and air ventilation throughout.

US Customs and Border Patrol

So, while they've discovered the tunnel, the US Border Patrol staff didn't make any arrests at the site.

However, they were utterly shocked at the sheer size of the thing. It's longer than 14 football fields, for heaven's sake.

There has not been any official comment on who created the illegal route into the US, but the area that it is has historically been a stronghold for the Sinaloa cartel.

If that name sounds familiar, it's probably because that particular cartel was previously led by Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman.

He was jailed for life back in the US back in July.

US Customs and Border Patrol

That something like this is even able to exist at all is something of a middle finger to President Donald Trump and his huge, beautiful border wall.

The wall was a keystone promise of his election campaign, but hasn't proven that easy to build, or enforce for that matter.

The wall itself actually extends into the earth, and is aimed at stopping people heading underneath, but it isn't capable of stopping an operation such as this one.

This tunnel is about 21 metres underground. It would have to be one hell of a wall to stop that.

US Customs and Border Patrol

The tunnel was actually discovered by the Mexican authorities back in August last year. They then alerted the team on the other side of the border, who mapped out the complete extent of the criminal's handiwork.

Lance LeNoir, a Border Patrol operations supervisor, said that this tunnel has 'blown past' the previous record, a 2,966-feet-long tunnel found in San Diego in 2014.

He continued: "We never really thought they had the moxie to go that far. They continue to surprise me."

The acting special agent in charge of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations unit in San Diego, Cardell T. Morant, said: "The sophistication and length of this particular tunnel demonstrates the time-consuming efforts transnational criminal organisations will undertake to facilitate cross-border smuggling."

Featured Image Credit: US Customs and Border Patrol

Topics: Interesting, US News, Weird