Mexican authorities discovered a 650-foot tunnel built by Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman in Tijuana — across the street from a National Guard base.
The tunnel, equipped with ventilation, lighting, and carts and rails, was discovered after a package of marijuana was left outside the house where the tunnel was hidden. Authorities believe it was intended to connect to a Tijuana-to-San Diego underpass unearthed in 2019, as part of a network built by the now-jailed Guzman. The US Drug Enforcement Administration estimates that there are more than 13,000 narco tunnels in Mexico, most of them in territory controlled by the Sinaloa Cartel. Some of those tunnels can span nearly 1,500 feet [NY Post].
The DEA said that jailed drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzmán was the mastermind behind the construction of the tunnels, which run up to 450 meters in length. The tunnels have been used to transport drugs, cash and sometimes migrants. Guzman, once the most notorious of Mexico’s drug kingpins, was extradited to the US, convicted and sent to a supermax prison in Colorado in 2019. In the last three years, border authorities have found at least 200 narco-tunnels, including one discovered in August of 2019 that connected Tijuana to San Diego [Mexico News Daily].