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Mexican Police Find Tunnel For Drugs Trafficking Underneath The US Border

Mexican Police Find Tunnel For Drugs Trafficking Underneath The US Border

It's the third tunnel they've found into the USA in the past month

Tom Wood

Tom Wood

Video footage has emerged showing the moment police officers discovered a tunnel that is thought to have been being used to transport drugs between Mexico and the USA.

The bizarre discovery was made by the Mexican federal police, who found that a 10-metre-long (33 foot) tunnel had been dug underneath the border between Mexico and the US.

The city of Nogales, in the Mexican state of Sonora, is divided right down the middle by the border between the two countries. The side of the city that resides within United States jurisdiction is part of the state of Arizona.

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This find is the third discovery of a tunnel between the two countries in the past month. It is not unusual for traffickers to build tunnels as they attempt to circumvent tight USA border controls. It is thought that the tunnel could have been used to smuggle migrants into the USA as well as drugs.

A spokesperson for the Mexican police urged anyone with any information to come forward and report it anonymously.

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That includes any suspicious activity in the area that could be related to tunnel building. The spokesperson said: "As part of our service to give security to the border area, federal police officers found a tunnel almost 10 metres long, believed to be used to commit crime."

The USA's Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) believes that at least 250 tunnels such as this one have been built to connect the Mexican state of Sonora to the US state of Arizona in the years since 1990.

They also say that the majority of the tunnels have been found in the city of Nogales.

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The DEA refers to the people who attempt to get drugs or people into the USA via tunnels such as this one as 'tunnel rats'.

In recent weeks, US President Donald Trump has been vehemently arguing that a border wall - a key campaign promise of his in 2016 - must be built between the United States and Mexico.

The Democratic Party, which control the House of Representatives, argues that the wall is expensive and unnecessary.

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This disagreement has led to a partial government shutdown over the issue, meaning that no work has been done by certain governmental departments for 19 days.

President Trump has called the situation at the United States' southern border with Mexico a 'national security crisis', whereas the Democratic Party leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi have accused Trump of 'temper tantrums' because they won't agree to his wall.

Featured Image Credit: CEN

Topics: America, US News, crime, Drugs, Politics