A new border tunnel discovered near San Diego has led to the arrest of dozens of illegal immigrants after they were busted using a border tunnel over the weekend.
The tunnel, which starts in Mexico and ends near the Otay Mesa border crossing, was discovered by a joint task force between Mexican authorities and the San Diego Tunnel Task Force. Officials say 23 of the people arrested are Chinese nationals and the rest are Mexican nationals.
Agents discovered the tunnel after they discovered several people who had just been smuggled into the US.
"US Agents searched the area and discovered a crude opening in the ground with a ladder inside and determined that is was a smuggling tunnel. The tunnel's exit is located just north of the secondary fence in the vicinity of the Otay Mesa port of entry," the Border Patrol said in a statement. "The 30 aliens are now in Border Patrol custody pending further questioning."
Tunnels between Mexico and the U.S. are a favorite tactic of cartels and human smuggling operations with some tunnels featuring lights and even train tracks.
"While subterranean tunnels are not a new occurrence along the California-Mexico border, they are more commonly utilized by transnational criminal organizations to smuggle narcotics. However, as this case demonstrates, law enforcement has also identified instances where such tunnels were used to facilitate human smuggling," it said in a statment.
So far, no drugs have been found. Authorities are working to determine who is responsible for digging the tunnel.