CJNG Narco Tunnel Discovered in San Diego Storefront, Over 1 Ton of Cocaine Seized

 "Socalj" for Borderland Beat

A nearly 2,000-foot-long tunnel stretching from Tijuana to Otay Mesa was recently discovered by law enforcement officials, leading to federal drug distribution charges announced Monday against four people.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, the tunnel led into a fake discount store in Otay Mesa called Buy 4 Less, which investigators have been surveilling since December due to suspicious activity.

Investigators regularly saw a group of supposed employees in and around the store, though the location "did not appear to be consistent with a normal retail location" and featured "minimal foot traffic from customers coming in and out of the Buy 4 Less store," according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Authorities also surveilled numerous empty suitcases leaving the store and being walked across the nearby border crossing into Mexico on several occasions.

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Zhi Dong Zhang Used a Tunnel to Escape House Arrest in Mexico the Day US Issued New Arrest Warrant

"Socalj" for Borderland Beat

An important Chinese money launderer linked to both the Sinaloa Cartel and CJNG, escaped from his house arrest in Mexico City on the same day that a US Federal Court ordered a new arrest warrant against him for money laundering.

Zhi Dong Zhang, a Chinese national known by multiple aliases (including Brother Wang, BW, Pancho, and Chino), was under house arrest in a building in the Lomas de Padierna neighborhood of Tlalpan, CDMX.

It was there that he escaped through a tunnel on July 11.

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Another Tunnel Found in TJ

Mexican authorities find tunnel at federal facility.

Union-Tribune

Tijuana, BC - Images from a video surveillance camera led Mexican authorities to a suspected smuggling tunnel under construction in Tijuana inside a guarded federal customs facility at the Otay Mesa border crossing, authorities said yesterday.

The incomplete tunnel was nearly 50 feet long and measured 2½ by 2½ feet, according to a statement from the Mexican military. It stopped about 55 yards short of the border, said Lauren Mack, spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The passageway was first detected by Mexican customs officials reviewing video surveillance that recorded people climbing over a wall in a little-used area, said Carlos Ramirez Escoto, the customs agency’s director in Tijuana. That led them to an underground chamber with water valves and a pipe, where they found the tunnel.

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The Narco Tunnel

Anderson Cooper from CNN takes a tour through a sophisticated tunnel route discovered by law enforcement running under the Mexico-U.S. border for drug smuggling:

The tunnel, complete with an elevator, electricity and a ventilation system, extends from Tijuana, Mexico to Otay Mesa, Calif., in San Diego. The tunnel was discovered by Mexican law enforcement working with the San Diego Tunnel Task Force, which includes agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Drug Enforcement Agency and the U.S. Border Patrol.

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Border Tunnel Found in Tijuana

SAN DIEGO - More than a dozen people were arrested Wednesday after Mexican authorities found an underground tunnel extending from Tijuana into the United States.

The tunnel, measuring just under 1,000 feet in length and reaching a depth of 90 to 100 feet, did not have an entry point in the United States, according to Drug Enforcement Agency, which issued a statement on the discovery. The passageway extend more than 860 feet across the border.

This operation resulted in 13 arrests of people allegedly linked to the criminal organization of the Arellano Felix, who, presumably, were involved in the construction of this tunnel.

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