ICE and DEA Bust U.S.-Mexican Tunnel

The tunnel had been under observation since April 2007

July 1, 2007

WASHINGTON DC NEWS -- In Nogales, Arizona, agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) executed a search warrant at a house used to conceal the U.S. entrance to a recently constructed tunnel that stretched nearly 100 yards underground to another home across the U.S.-Mexico border.

When ICE and DEA agents entered the Nogales home, it was empty and largely unfurnished. Scattered on the floor were picks, a jack-hammer, and other equipment likely used in the excavation.

Once inside the small one-story house at 24 North Escalada Drive, Nogales Arizona, DEA and ICE agents discovered the tunnel's entrance in a utility room hidden beneath sheets of plywood weighted down with dirt-filled bags. At the Nogales entrance, the tunnel shaft measured three feet by three feet reinforced in places with wood supports and sandbags. The tunnel, was equipped with lighting, but had no ventilation system. Investigators believe the tunnel has not been used.

As ICE and DEA agents were searching the Nogales home on the U.S. side of the U.S.-Mexico border. Officers from the Sonoran State Police made entry into the residence in Nogales, Sonora, across the U.S.-Mexico border in Mexico. Sonoran State Police located the tunnel's other entrance, and arrested five suspects at that location.

According to ICE and the DEA, who are coordinating the ongoing investigation, the tunnel has been under observation since April. Both agencies have received substantial assistance in the case from U.S. Customs and Border Protection Border Patrol.

Douglas Hebert, acting special in charge of the DEA's Phoenix Field Division said: "Yesterday's discovery is yet another reminder how desperate these criminal organizations are and the extent they will go to further their drug operations and endanger the security of our citizens. The DEA continues to work with its counterparts nationally and internationally to target and dismantle drug trafficking organizations, as well as to block their smuggling routes into this country."

Alonzo Peña, special agent in charge of the ICE office of investigations in Arizona said: "Quick action by law enforcement ensured that this tunnel wouldn't be used. If passages like these go undetected, they pose a potential threat to our nation's security. ICE is committed to working with its law enforcement partners to dismantle these tunnels and the criminal organizations behind them."

Once the investigation is completed, the tunnel will be permanently filled in by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. ICE has temporarily blocked the U.S. entrance to the tunnel.

The Nogales passageway is one of the most extensive smuggling tunnels uncovered along the southwestern border since the discovery of a massive tunnel south of San Diego in January 2006. Since 9/11, federal authorities have discovered more than 40 cross-border tunnels along the U.S.-Mexico border in California and Arizona.

Published by:
Rob Cross
mailto:editor@357news.com

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