http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2015/02/26/hold-ready-drug-smuggling-tunnel-found-after-3-million-pot-bust-on-border/
Federal agents
discovered an underground tunnel crossing the border into Mexico from Naco,
Arizona on Tuesday as part of an investigation after a traffic stop
that yielded over two tons of marijuana, with a value of
approximately $3 million.
According to a press release by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP),
special agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE)
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) got a tip about a large shipment of
marijuana being moved. The HSI officers contacted the local Bisbee, Arizona
Police Department (BPD), and BPD pulled over a box truck at about 6:30 pm on
the outskirts of the city.
A Tucson Sector Border Patrol canine team assisted BPD in
the traffic stop, and their dogs alerted to the rear of the truck. When the
truck was searched, more than 4,700 pounds of marijuana was found, in stacked
bundles. The driver of the box truck was arrested, but authorities had not yet
released his name.
Bisbee Police Staff Sergeant Robert Coronado thanked HSI
and the Border Patrol for their assistance, saying, “The Bisbee Police
Department supports the efforts of its local officers and appreciates the
continued support of the U.S. Border Patrol and HSI, which provide assistance
on a regular basis.”
Other evidence uncovered by BPD and the Border Patrol led
to a warrant being issued to search a residence in nearby Naco, Arizona, which
is about 10 miles south of Bisbee and directly on the border with Mexico.
HSI and Border Patrol agents arrived at the Naco
residence shortly before dawn on Tuesday and discovered the entrance to a
tunnel in a small shed at the edge of the property. A suspect at the residence
was also arrested and detained.
Border Patrol’s specially trained tunnel team examined
the tunnel, which was highly sophisticated. Investigators found a cement shaft
at the entrance, equipped with a hydraulic lift. The corridor to the tunnel on
the U.S. side is large enough for an adult to stand upright and is shored-up
with wooden supports.
Concerns about air quality in the tunnel stopped
investigators from continuing through the tunnel’s full length, but they
notified authorities in Mexico, who are working to ascertain where the Mexican
entrance to the tunnel is located.
“With this discovery we’ve dealt another significant blow
to the Mexican drug cartels and proven yet again that going underground is not
a workaround to evade law enforcement,” said Matthew Allen, special agent in
charge of HSI Arizona. “Last night’s chain of events is also a testament to the
outstanding unity of effort by federal and local investigators in Arizona who
are committed to combatting this threat.”
“When partnered law enforcement agencies come together,
the odds are greatly increased that criminal organizations will have less
success,” said Tucson Sector Chief Patrol Agent Manuel Padilla Jr. “Not only is
it a win-win situation for law enforcement partners, we also make the
communities in which we live and serve safer.”
“Cross-border tunnels continue to be a tried-and-true
smuggling method for Mexican drug cartels that U.S. authorities just can’t seem
to make a dent in,” said Sylvia Longmire, Breitbart
Texas’ border security expert and contributing editor. “They’re
notoriously difficult to detect, with as many as half of them found through
anonymous tips rather than tunnel detection technology or human sources.
Federal agencies are saying this discovery is a significant blow to the
cartels, but in truth, there are likely many more tunnels in southern Arizona
and California we don’t know about, and cartels are well-funded enough to just
begin construction on another one to replace this one.”
According to CBP, U.S. authorities have found and
dismantled more than 80 cross-border smuggling tunnels. Breitbart Texas previously reported on tunnels found in Nogales, Arizona, San Diego California, and El Paso, Texas. In addition to smuggling drugs, the tunnels
are also often used for human trafficking.
Follow Sarah Rumpf on Twitter @rumpfshaker.
MEXICO’S INVASION, OCCUPATION, LOOTING and EVER EXPANDING
WELFARE STATE ON OUR BACKS:
Sen. John McCain looks for wars all over the globe and fights
for open borders with Mexico despite the invasion his own state of Arizona has
suffered!
“We cannot afford all this illegal immigration
and everything that comes with it. Everything from the crime to the drugs and
the kidnappings and extortion and the beheadings and the fact that people can't
feel safe in their communities.” - AZ Gov. Jan Brewer
USA TODAY, gaining the data from U.S.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) through the Freedom of information
Act, reports that some of the illegal
immigrants had been charged with kidnapping, sexual assault, drug trafficking,
and homicide.
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