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The smugglers
built a house to hide the northern entrance to the 400-yard (365
meters) tunnel in Calexico, the U.S. Attorney's Office for
southern California said.
The southern end of the tunnel came up in El Sarape restaurant
in Mexicali, authorities said.
It is the first smuggling tunnel found in more than 10 years in
Calexico, a small city of about 40,000 people some 120 miles
(193 km) east of San Diego, but the 12th discovered along
Mexico's border with California since 2006.
The rest of the tunnels were found in the San Diego area.
The smugglers purchased the land last April and by the time
construction wrapped up in December, federal investigators were
using wiretaps and watching activity at the house, charging
documents said.
"This house and tunnel were constructed under the watchful eye
of law enforcement," said Laura Duffy, U.S. Attorney for
southern California. "For the builders, the financiers and the
operators of these passageways, there is no light at the end of
the tunnel."
Federal agents continued to monitor the house, a separate safe
house in Calexico and four suspects until the first loads of
marijuana came through at the end of February.
On Mar. 7, investigators seized 1,350 pounds of pot that came
through the tunnel as it was being transported through the Los
Angeles area, according to federal documents.
On Tuesday, a mother and daughter who were allegedly part of the
ring were arrested in nearby Nogales, Arizona.
On Wednesday, federal investigators arrested two men in Calexico
- one at the tunnel house and one at the safe house - and seized
an additional 1,532 pounds of marijuana from the tunnel.
The suspects will be charged with conspiracy to import and
distribute marijuana, prosecutors said.
(Reporting by Marty Graham in San Diego; Editing by Curtis
Skinner and Simon Cameron-Moore)
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