cannabisnews.com: Authorities Find Arizona Drug Tunnel





Authorities Find Arizona Drug Tunnel
Posted by FoM on December 12, 2001 at 11:04:57 PT
By Arthur H. Rotstein, Associated Press Writer
Source: Associated Press 
Federal authorities found an 85-foot tunnel under the U.S.-Mexican border Tuesday and said they believed it had been used to smuggle $21 million worth of cocaine and marijuana into the United States. Authorities said they had seized all the drugs -- 956 pounds of cocaine and 839 pounds of marijuana -- since smugglers began using the tunnel in late summer, Customs Agent Vince Iglio said. Two people were arrested last month. 
The tunnel stretched from underneath a home in Nogales, 55 miles south of Tucson, to a concrete wash on the Mexican side of the border. Iglio said the opening on the Mexican side was covered by a steel utility plate and resealed with cement each time it was used. The 4-foot-high tunnel, shored up throughout with lumber like a mine, was "one of the most complicated we've seen," Iglio said. It was strung with electricity and tracks had been laid inside. In a bedroom of the Nogales home, authorities found a mechanic's dolly with a long rope attached. In a corner of the room, under carpeting and wooden flooring, was a 30-foot vertical shaft leading to the tunnel. The occupant of the home has not been found, Iglio said. The home's owner does not live there and isn't believed to be involved in the drug smuggling. The city of Nogales plans to excavate and seal the tunnel, he said. Iglio compared the new tunnel to a concrete-lined, electrified 300-foot tunnel found in 1990. That tunnel ran about 30 feet under the border between a home in Agua Prieta, Mexico, and a warehouse in Douglas, with secret entrances on both sides and a hydraulic lift. The tunnel was the eighth discovered in Nogales since 1995 but the first in the city to run directly beneath the border. The others have led into sewer lines that feed into a canal system that flows from Mexico into Nogales. Complete Title: Authorities find Ariz. Drug Tunnel, Suspect It Funneled $21 Million in Cocaine, Marijuana Source: Associated PressAuthor: Arthur H. Rotstein, Associated Press WriterPublished: Tuesday, December 11, 2001 Copyright: 2001 Associated Press  Related Articles:Drug Agents Find New Tunnel - in Usehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6244.shtmlNew Tunnel Found in Nogales, 3 Heldhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread5779.shtml
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on December 12, 2001 at 12:01:38 PT
I've been to Nogales
When I read and heard on the news about finding another tunnel I had to laugh a little. Nogales looks like Afghanistan but with a few more trees and plants. They'll just build another tunnel. Years ago we were bringing a load of produce from Mexico to Pittsburgh and when we got there they were happy and ran around yelling the Mexico truck is finally here and we wondered what we might have brought in that trailer besides produce. 
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Comment #1 posted by Rev0x on December 12, 2001 at 11:47:23 PT
hah
Whoop-de-frickin-do. Just think how many more tunnels there are or might be.I don't really know about coke, wouldn't touch the stuff, but I do know that a lot of the pot the US consumes is grown in the US. I think coca cultivation and processing is a little bit more difficult to do domestically so it's done in other countries.
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