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Smuggling drugs can be a very lucrative line of work, and the criminals who engage in that activity tend to go to great lengths to avoid being caught. That was literally the case with the people overseeing an operation that was recently busted in San Diego, as authorities discovered a nearly 2,000-foot tunnel to Mexico hidden underneath a store that didn’t actually sell anything.
The illegal nature of drug smuggling means there’s no way to definitively calculate just how much product (and money) is moved around the world each year. However, even the most conservative estimates say that illegal industry is responsible for hundreds of billions of dollars in profits annually thanks to traffickers who can get very creative when it comes to moving their wares from one country to another.
Mexico is the biggest pipeline when it comes to the drugs that end up making their way into the United States, and smugglers resort to a wide variety of methods and strategies when it comes to getting them across the border.
That includes those who’ve opted to go under the border via one of the many tunnels that have been discovered over the years, and a new one has been added to the list thanks to a raid that was recently conducted in California.
Authorities discovered a tunnel under a store in San Diego that was being used to smuggle cocaine from Mexico
Tijuana is the largest Mexican city that shares a border with the United States, and it has a reputation as a hotspot for drug traffickers who use it as a central base of operations.
Its proximity to America means you run the risk of facing plenty of scrutiny if you attempt to make your way through one of the official border checkpoints that lead to the southern outskirts of San Diego. That reality has led to a number of criminals opting for a subterranean alternative in the form of the tunnels they’ve dug in an attempt to thwart the law.
According to Fox5, Buy 4 Less, a store in the San Diego suburb of Otay Mesa, came to the attention of Homeland Security officials at the end of last year due to suspicious activity. The agency launched a five-month surveillance investigation to monitor what they believe was a front for a smuggling operation due to the lack of customers at a retail outpost that regularly boasted seven or eight employees.
Based on the bust that was conducted at the end of May, Buy 4 Less was not a store at all but actually a front for a massive cocaine smuggling operation that was blown up after agents observed multiple trucks being loaded with deep freezers and large boxes outside the business.
They conducted traffic stops that led to the discovery of 678 packages of cocaine with an estimated street value of $45 million, and a subsequent raid of Buy 4 Less led to the discovery of a floor panel that served as the entrance to a 1,933-foot tunnel leading to Tijuana, which boasted a hydraulic lift in addition to “reinforced walls, rail and ventilation systems, and electricity.”
Four people were ultimately arrested in connection with the operation, and they face drug-related charges that could lead to them serving the rest of their lives in prison.