Drug Tunnel, Smuggler Discovered In Nogales

Published: Tuesday, August 19, 2014 - 11:18am

For the sixth time since the start of the federal fiscal year last October, the Border Patrol says it has discovered a drug-smuggling tunnel under the international border with Mexico. 

Spokesman George Trevino said agents using detection equipment were able to arrest a suspect trying to smuggle marijuana through the tunnel, about 100 yards west of the DeConcini Port of Entry in Nogales, Ariz.

“It had ventilation pipes and it had electrical wiring. The tunnel wasn’t extremely huge. It was two and a half feet wide, by three feet tall,” Trevino said.

Trevino said the tunnel extended 42 feet into the United States. Agents say the suspect they arrested was attempting to smuggle 235 pounds of marijuana through the tunnel when he was apprehended.