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Narcotunnels Back in Focus for Trump Administration
🇲🇽 Mexico /Conflict & Security

Narcotunnels Back in Focus for Trump Administration

From El Universal · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • U.S. officials are increasingly focused on drug cartels utilizing underground tunnels to smuggle narcotics.
  • A large-scale tunnel discovered near San Diego, connecting Tijuana to a front business, highlights the industrial nature of these operations.
  • The resurgence of tunnels is attributed to cartel adaptation to tightened land routes and increased U.S. pressure, making underground routes more profitable despite higher costs.

U.S. border security is confronting a renewed threat from drug cartels employing sophisticated underground tunnels, a tactic Donald Trump's administration is prioritizing. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin highlighted this shift, stating that cartels are being forced underground due to the closure of external land routes.

we see that we are forcing them underground because of President Trump's policies.

— Markwayne MullinSecretary of Homeland Security, explaining the cartel's shift to underground operations.

"We see that we are forcing them underground because of President Trump's policies," Mullin told a House committee. He referenced a significant tunnel discovered in Otay Mesa, south of San Diego, which stretched from Tijuana, Mexico, to a seemingly legitimate storefront called Buy 4 Less.

Its exit was hidden under the floor of a storage room inside the front business located near the Otay Mesa port of entry.

— Border Patrol agentDescribing the hidden exit of the discovered narcotunnel.

The Department of Justice announced charges against four individuals in connection with this discovery, involving over a ton of cocaine valued at $45 million. This operation, part of the Homeland Security Task Force, revealed a tunnel of "industrial criminal scale." Measuring approximately 589 meters long, nearly 17 meters deep, and 1.37 meters high, it was equipped with reinforced walls, rails, ventilation, electricity, and a hydraulic elevator.

When a drug tunnel can move shipments worth tens of millions of dollars, the investment in engineering becomes profitable.

— Border Patrol agentExplaining the economic rationale behind cartel investment in sophisticated tunnels.

An HSI San Diego special agent described the seizure as a "significant blow" to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG). The resurgence of these tunnels is driven by a combination of increased U.S. pressure and the lucrative nature of drug trafficking. As surface routes become more heavily monitored, cartels invest in more costly but less exposed underground methods, finding them profitable when moving tens of millions of dollars worth of drugs.

The investigation and seizure represented a significant blow to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG).

— Kevin MurphyInterim special agent in charge of HSI San Diego, commenting on the impact of the operation.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by El Universal in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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