Mexican authorities have uncovered a new, unfinished drug-running tunnel between the U.S. and Mexico that bears the hallmarks of “El Chapo,” the escaped drug lord who led the Sinaloa cartel.
The tunnel, discovered on June 30, is roughly 19 feet deep, 5.5 feet high and over 400 feet long, the Spanish newspaper El País said.
The unfinished passageway connected the U.S. and Mexico at Garita de San Ysidro, a town right on the border near the city of Tijuana, Business Insider reported.
It is the third tunnel found in the area this year with more than 75 illegal passages found along U.S.-Mexico border in the past decade.
The tunnel had light fixtures and rail track and is suspected to be a drug tunnel, but its exact purpose and designers remain unknown.
Mexican drug cartels build similar tunnels and start work on new ones as soon as one is shut down, officials say, The Daily Mail reported.
The “narco tunnels” are often sophisticated in their structure, with lighting, ventilation and sometimes rail systems — like the newly discovered tunnel.
These tunnels can take months and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to construct, the Daily Mail said.
The new tunnel is the first to be discovered since Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman broke out of a maximum security prison last month, using a tunnel built under his cell to escape.
Guzman, 60, is worth an estimated $3 billion and is now one of the most wanted men since his escape.
• Kellan Howell can be reached at khowell@washingtontimes.com.
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