Over one ton of cocaine seized at U.S.-Mexico tunnel bust

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(The Center Square) - Border Patrol agents in Southern California have found another underground cross border tunnel, leading to the arrest of four men and the seizure of enough cocaine to kill 34 million people.  

As illegal crossings across the southwest border have dropped by 95% under the Trump administration, record drug busts are ongoing, and cross border tunnels stretching thousands of feet from Mexico into the U.S. are still being found.

After a months-long investigation, the most recent bust occurred on May 29 in the U.S. Customs and Border Protection San Diego Sector near the Otay Mesa Port of Entry. The sector and POE have been ground zero for cross border tunnels for decades.

In April, San Diego Sector Border Patrol Tunnel Team agents uncovered a 3,000-foot-long large-scale narcotics smuggling tunnel under the Otay Mesa POE, The Center Square reported. 

One month later, agents found a similar sophisticated 1,933-foot-long cross border tunnel leading to a Buy 4 Less retail store in Otay Mesa from Tijuana, Mexico. The tunnel, dug 55 feet underground and roughly 4.5-feet high, has reinforced walls, a rail, ventilation system and electricity to facilitate the smuggling of people and drugs, authorities found.

During the latest bust, four men, two each with California and Mexican addresses, have been charged with conspiracy to distribute controlled substances. One was charged with conspiracy to use a cross-border tunnel and conspiracy to import controlled substances, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. If convicted, they face life in prison and a $10 million fine.

“For these defendants, it wasn’t a light at the end of the tunnel. It was lights and sirens,” U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon said.

CBP San Diego Sector Border Patrol agents surveilled the store front from December 2025 to May 2026 after “a new group of around seven or eight ‘employees’ were seen regularly,” involved in suspicious activity, according to the charges. They were first observed allegedly regularly transporting a large number of suitcases from the store into vehicles or walked them across the border into Mexico, investigators found. 

Months later and prior to the men’s arrests, Border Patrol agents observed a man “loading three large, heavy items into a white van which departed Buy 4 Less and ultimately parked on the street near a mechanic shop,” and another man on a bicycle allegedly conducting counter surveillance, according to the charges. The scheme allegedly involved the men moving deep freezers and packages and taking heavy boxes out of Buy 4 Less and loading them into vans and truck beds.

San Diego County Sheriff’s deputies were notified, conducted traffic stops, and a K9 identified the controlled substances. This led to the seizure of more than a ton of cocaine. 

They found 173 packages weighing nearly 631 pounds in one truck, 423 packages weighing more nearly 1,035 pounds in another truck and 255 packages weighing 604 pounds in a van, according to the complaint. They field tested the substances, which tested positive for cocaine. Total weight seized was nearly 2,270 pounds.

With 30 milligrams of cocaine considered a lethal dose, the amount seized was enough to kill 34 million people. That’s equivalent to the population of 25 San Diegos and nearly the entire population of California.

After the drug seizures, warrants were issued to search Buy 4 Less, where agents found the exit point of the tunnel. It was concealed under the floor of a storage room in the store, according to the complaint. The tunnel was accessed using a sophisticated hydraulic lift, extending more than 1,000 feet from the store to the border and another 800 feet inside Mexico, authorities found. 

“Criminal organizations continue to look for ways to exploit our border, but they underestimate the determination of the men and women protecting it,” San Diego Sector Chief Border Patrol Agent Justin De La Torre said. “This tunnel’s discovery is a testament to our strong partnerships and the unwavering commitment of law enforcement on both sides of the border.”

In the Southern District of California, federal and local law enforcement are working together to combat transnational crime.

“Law enforcement collaboration is the backbone of dismantling sophisticated transnational drug cartels, as these organizations rely on vast illicit supply chains spanning multiple jurisdictions," San Diego County Sheriff Kelly Martinez said. "Joint operations disrupt trafficking networks, choke illicit financial flows and prevent transnational cartels from exploiting jurisdictional gaps.”

The CBP San Diego Sector has historically been one of the busiest human and drug smuggling corridors along the southwest border. During the Biden administration when record illegal entries were reported and after Texas border security efforts expanded, the sector became the epicenter of illegal crossings, The Center Square first reported. 

Since 1993, authorities have found 99 tunnels in the Southern District of California with 28 considered to be sophisticated, according to CBP data. The tunnels are destroyed by pouring thousands of gallons of concrete inside, CBP says.

Tunnels are also being discovered in the CBP El Paso Sector connecting Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, to El Paso, Texas, The Center Square reported. In the latest case, agents uncovered a tunnel equipped with electricity and ventilation with an exit point leading to a box car positioned on the road with a trap door.