US, Mexico find 2,918-foot border tunnel near San Diego

U.S. and Mexican authorities have discovered a sophisticated cross-border tunnel originating from a residential neighborhood in Tijuana, Mexico, and extending toward San Diego, California. The passage was found during a coordinated law enforcement operation in early April.

Mexican federal authorities, supported by the Mexican Navy, located the tunnel entrance on Saturday while executing a search warrant at a house in the Nueva Tijuana neighborhood. During the raid, officials seized ammunition, cell phones, bank cards, a digital video recorder, and quantities of methamphetamine. They described the property as a logistical center for criminal activity, used for the storage and movement of narcotics, weapons, and potentially explosive materials.

On the U.S. side, Homeland Security Investigations confirmed its agents are participating in an active criminal probe into the subterranean tunnel near the Otay Mesa area, a major border crossing. U.S. Border Patrol agents subsequently located and disabled the tunnel, which runs beneath a portion of the Otay Mesa Port of Entry.

Authorities described the tunnel as highly sophisticated, a designation reserved for projects requiring extensive...