Inside secret 1,000ft tunnel found between Mexico & US after officials checking out storm drain stumbled upon entrance
Officials investigating a storm drain have found a SECRET 1,000-foot smuggling tunnel beneath the US-Mexico border.
In order to prevent collapses, the elaborate tunnel between Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, and El Paso, Texas, is strengthened with wooden beams and equipped with ventilation and illumination.
Authorities think smuggling organizations have used it to bring illegal goods and persons into the United States.
On January 10, US border patrol personnel found the entrance, which was concealed in a storm drain, after removing a metal grill that covered the opening.
Investigators are investigating whether local officials were aware of the tunnel’s existence after the US agents alerted their Mexican counterparts.
The tunnel is big enough to go through comfortably, measuring six feet high by four feet wide, according to General Jose Lemus, head of the military garrison in Ciudad Juarez.
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He also implied that “it could have been one or two years” and that it “must have taken a long time” to construct.
Traffickers most certainly constructed the tunnel, according to Victor Manjarrez, a former sector head for the US Border Patrol with more than 20 years of expertise.
He claims that one of the main strategies used by these thieves is to connect a tunnel through a storm sewer system.
“It’s actually the most common way,” he remarked.
The majority of the tunnels are finished. Since 1991, there have been roughly 230–240 tunnels along the southwest border.
In the US, the majority of those are connected to infrastructure.
To determine who constructed the tunnel, who utilized it, and who was aware of it, an inquiry has been launched.
“This is definitely not a mom-and-pop operation at all,” Victor stated.
It’s much more than that.
According to Jose, the probe is under the jurisdiction of the Mexican Attorney General’s Office, which will also be in charge of figuring out whether or not officials were involved in its creation.
“We are proud of the Agents who found this smuggling infrastructure used by transnational criminal organizations,” stated El Paso Chief Patrol Agent Anthony Scott Goof.
He continued: “Our Agents are relentless in searching and surveying every square mile of the El Paso Sector.”
On the US side, workers have already been seen covering the tunnel with concrete, and officials have promised to completely seal it off so it can never be used again.
As President Trump assumes office today, both sides are stepping up border security.
Early in his presidency, he pledged to take a far harder stance on immigration, which included huge deportations.
“We’re already prepared, and it will start,” he told NBC.
“We have to get the criminals that have come here illegally out of our country.”
The day before his inauguration on Sunday, he reiterated his immigration promises to a Washington crowd.
He stated: “These are rough people [coming over the border] and they’re getting the hell out of our country they’re out.”
“The border security measures I will outline in my inaugural address tomorrow will be the most aggressive, sweeping effort to restore our borders that the world has ever seen.”
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Following Trump’s election victory, NBCNews also reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel are preparing multiple raids in Chicago, Illinois.
Multiple areas would be targeted, and the attacks may begin as early as Tuesday, a source told the broadcaster.