Huge Drug Tunnel Found Near Yuma, Arizona

[Archae]

Source: ABC News

Authorities in Arizona have discovered a lighted, ventilated cross-border drug smuggling tunnel more than two football fields long and possibly linked to the Sinaloa drug cartel just steps from an official border-crossing checkpoint between Mexico and the U.S.

Local and federal officials found the tunnel's entrance hidden under a water tank in a one-story building in San Luis, Arizona, near Yuma. The tunnel then plunged 55 feet down before turning south for Mexico. The 240-yard tunnel, which had six-foot ceilings, lighting and ventilation, surfaced across the border inside an ice factory in San Luis Rio Colorado, Mexico.

Drug Enforcement Administration agents had been monitoring the building on the U.S. side since January, after seeing what they considered suspicious activity "that indicated the site was being used as a potential stash location," said the DEA in a statement. On July 6, local law enforcement stopped a pick-up truck carrying 39 pounds of methamphetamine, and then traced the vehicle back to the San Luis building.


Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/huge-drug-tunnel-found-yuma-arizona/story?id=16762501

[Egalitarian Thug]

1. Again? This is at least the third found in the last 15 years. n/t

[grantcart]

6. In the past seven years, 119 tunnels have been discovered on the southern U.S. border.

the find one tunnel a month somewhere along the border.

[julian09]

2. Took six months to confirm suspicion !!!!!! nt

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

18. You'd think they could have done that a littel faster...

Like going up to the building and saying something like, "Howdy, do you all have any tunnels to Mexico inside?"

Something like that.

[truthisfreedom]

3. How do you cart away that much dirt without drawing attention?

6 feet tall, presumably 3' wide, and 240 yards long... that's 480 cubic yards of dirt for the horizontal portion alone. At 2500 lbs per cubic yard, that's 600 TONS of dirt. Not counting the vertical parts of the tunnel, which could easily bring it up to 800-900 tons. A standard dump truck can carry about 10 short tons. That's 90 truckloads.

[grantcart]

5. If there is a big godown on either side they just pile it up.

[wordpix]

17. good point, I suspect corruption was involved - you, know, "look the other way" for $

[L0oniX]

4. While they are more conserned with the undocumented this shit goes on.

Gee maybe they need to pay more attention to drug and gun traffic. Ya think?

[siligut]

7. Blaming undocumented workers for taking American jobs is an excuse the border patrol uses

Making money off of bribes from cartels is their real business. Either that or they are just really, really inept. Kind of like Dubya was inept all the way to the bank.

[midnight]

19. It really does appear to be that way doesn't it....

[Iggo]

8. Legalize it!

[FrodosPet]

14. Legalize Meth?

You ARE joking, I hope? Just hit the smilies button, then the ... button, and there is a "sarcasm" graphic you can use for suggestions like that.

MJ, yes, legalize it. The effects of prohibition are far worse than the effects of the MJ.

But meth is a killer.

https://www.google.com/search?q=meth+addicts+before+and+after+photos&num=100&hl=en

[Iggo]

20. Legalize it!

[FrodosPet]

21. No!

Not just no, but Hell No!

[Occulus]

34. Methamphetamine is actually currently still "legal"

and sold under the trade name Desoxyn. It's prescribed- rarely, to both children and adults- as a treatment for obesity and narcolepsy, according to the Wiki page for methamphetamine. The Wiki even has photos of the pills in question.

Methamphetamine is also given to pilots in the air force when flying very long missions. Contrary to popular belief, meth actually does have legitimate uses.

This is one reason I hate the drug war with the white-hot fury of a thousand exploding stars... most of what everyone "knows" about even this "worst" of drugs is flat-out wrong.

[Major Nikon]

23. Have you ever seen a drug criminalization effort that actually worked?

I say legalize all drugs. That's not to say you should be able to buy meth at the convenience store. However, they most certainly could be available with a prescription, even to addicts. Not everyone who uses meth becomes an addict, and even if they are an addict, that shouldn't make them a criminal any more than someone who is an alcoholic. Legalizing it means you can regulate it, so that people who are using things like meth can at least be under a doctor's care. It also means you have some control over who can get it. It also means you remove the criminal element from the product. If you want to regulate things like pot, put a tax stamp on it. It's the only proven method of control for such things.

[sofa king]

25. Sure: PCP, LSD

Both of those drugs are nearly non-existent in the US. The precursor chemicals used to make them were systematically replaced within US industry and it is now impossible to synthesize those chemicals the "easy" way, whatever that was.

I'm told that "LSD" is still sold, but by the late 90s it was mostly amphetamines that caused hallucinations due to overtaxing the human heart. More recently I have read that now it often contains LSD's cousins in the "2C" family of phenethylamines, the properties and long-term effects of which are largely unknown.

It is an excellent example of how a non-toxic and fairly well studied drug was run out of the market--only to be replaced by an army of inferior and potentially more dangerous products because demand never diminished. But in the narrowest definition of the term, chasing LSD to extinction "worked," in the sense that one cannot easily acquire the real thing any longer.

In other words, I agree with you. Taxation and regulation is the key for most of the non-addictive recreational drugs, so that efforts can be concentrated against the truly socially damaging substances like cocaine, heroin and meth.

People are only going to want to get fucked up more as the standard of living of the vast majority of Americans declines to third-world levels.

[Major Nikon]

30. I don't really see that as a success

The US doesn't have nearly as much control beyond its borders. If there were a demand for those drugs, and they couldn't be manufactured here, they would be manufactured elsewhere and imported. The US has mostly made meth ingredients inaccessible also, yet meth is still widely available.

Personally I'm more for attacking problems directly rather than attacking symptoms. The social problems associated with illicit drugs is largely because they are illegal. When you make the substances illegal, you turn users into criminals which are often compelled to engage in other types of crime to support their habit. When you legalize drugs, the price drops. Users can retain good paying jobs without the threat of going to jail and losing everything. Believe it or not, even heroin addicts can retain good jobs and be productive members of society once the criminal element is removed.

[sofa king]

33. It's a minor difference of opinion between us.

And I have to say your approach is more honest, too. You're saying just open the door. I'm saying we need to open the door... but still have a bouncer... which I will freely admit rarely works.

Just to clarify, I don't think stamping out LSD did any good at all, either. In fact, just like the story of the hydra, cutting off LSD spawned at least two dozen hallucinogens which are arguably worse than the original in every major way.

It occurs to me that the quest for gay rights may actually be the best example of your argument, particularly in the spy business. As long as being gay was socially unacceptable, gay people had to be dishonest about their sexuality, which made them a security risk because it gave interested parties a potential way to extort information from people who were concealing their sexual preferences. As soon as homosexuality became better accepted in the US, gay people became an asset, because they have nothing to hide but can exploit other gay people in places which still haven't come around.

Recreational drugs and the people who use them can be an asset as well, but only if a certain level of acceptance--and legality--is achieved.

[Comrade Grumpy]

27. Meth is already a legal drug. It can be prescribed.

It's Schedule II in the Controlled Substances Act.

The brand name is Desoxyn, manufactured by Abbot.

[Major Nikon]

28. Not too many doctors are going to prescribe it for recreational purposes

I have no problem with it. If someone is under a doctor's care, they are less likely to suffer ill effects from abuse.

[FrodosPet]

29. So you want to see legal possession of meth for shits and giggles

But not illegal manufacture or distribution? Should someone who cooks a crap batch that kills people go to jail?

What about people who want more than the doctor will give?

I'm sorry to piss on the "Legalize It!" parade, but legalizing meth is another form of social Darwinism.

[Comrade Grumpy]

31. Okay, let them eat Aderrall.

That's quite popular, too. And it isn't meth; it's dextroamphetamine.

We are a stimulant-craving society. Walk into any convenience store, past the coffee dispensers, past the piles of Rock Star and other "energy drinks" and have yourself a nice, sugary cola.

You don't want to stereotype meth users too much. Yeah, some are toothless speed freaks; others might be your employee of the month.

[Major Nikon]

32. I'm all for allowing it with a prescription for shits and giggles

The conservative solution is to just keep doing things the way you've always done them or even double down, even if the effort is a complete failure. The progressive solution is to analyze what the real problem is and develop realistic solutions for dealing with it, even if that means significant change.

Illegal manufacture and distribution should be just that. However, the attempt at making the use of illicit drugs (including meth) has failed miserably. Making the use of illicit drugs illegal is a self-fulfilling prophecy. It's like sticking your head in the sand and pretending the problem will go away, when in reality you've just exacerbated the problem by introducing criminal elements into the manufacture and distribution chain, and not to mention all the social and fiscal costs associated with trying to perpetuate a failed policy. People are going to get illicit drugs whether they are legal or illegal to use. You can't stop it at the border. You can't stop it at the point of manufacture, and you can't stop it at the point of sale. The very best you can do is interdict around 10% and that's after throwing billions of dollars at the effort. We already know this. That way has already been tried and it has failed and it didn't fail for lack of commitment. It failed because the policy itself was a failure.

People who want more than a doctor will give are just going to be shit out of luck which is part of the idea. A legal system of distribution removes the incentive for an illegal system of distribution. If 95% of the users are able to get doses that satisfy their desire, the 5% who want more are going to have a more difficult time finding an illicit market. There's still an illicit market for prescription drugs and always will be, but a good legalization strategy will mostly eradicate the criminal element from the manufacture of such drugs.

You can ask what-if questions all day. The point of legalization is not to eradicate all problems with illicit drug use. That is the goal of criminalizing illicit drugs which has failed miserably. The point of legalization is to mitigate the societal problems with drug use through regulation. Making non-addicting drugs legal and prescription free also will go a long way towards reducing the prevalence of addicting drugs. If someone can get all the pot and mushrooms they want for a low price with wide availability, it's going to reduce the demand for a higher priced product that requires regular visits to the doctor. Furthermore, once you take the billions of dollars we're spending in a failed enforcement effort and concentrate that on solutions that actually work, like treatment and education.

[tclambert]

9. They look so good, it reminded me of Hogan's Heroes.

Wiring. Ventilation. Smooth floors. Wooden bracing. Some have water pumps.

[Kali]

10. again?

[sarcasmo]

11. These tunnels pretty much kill the whole fence bullshit.

[Major Nikon]

24. Here's a pretty good video which demonstrates why border fences don't work

[Gin]

12. Wonder how they shut down the tunnels?

Are they blasted or flooded or filled with dirt or debri? Or......are they just located and left alone to be used another day?

[Taverner]

13. Just legalize everything already....

The War on Drugs is not making anything better

[Jessy169]

15. Not just drugs

Guns too I'll bet. And a lot of them.

[greiner3]

16. I love Weeds!

[FrodosPet]

22. Too bad Celia left

Mary Louise Parker does not have the same chemistry with Jennifer Jason Leigh as she did with Elizabeth Perkins.

I really hope she will make a least one last appearance.

[GoCubsGo]

26. Imagine what could have been done with the hundreds of millions of dollars wasted here.

For starters, the government could have hired dozens and dozens of biologists to study and protect the numerous species whose migration was fucked up by this fence boondoggle.

Several now-crumbling bridges throughout the country could have been repaired or placed.

Hundreds of miles of deteriorating sewer systems could have been fixed.

Thousands of miles of the electrical grid could have been updated.

Hundreds of laid-off inspectors could have been rehired to protect our food and medicine supply, infrastructure, waterways... Many new ones could have been hired on top of that.

Got to wonder how many more of these tunnels are out there, too.

[ChazII]

35. Both countries

infrastructures would have been helped. Your observations are spot on, imho.