Border Patrol speaks out for first time on Tijuana-Otay Mesa drug tunnel
SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — U.S. Border Patrol is speaking out for the first time since the discovery of a drug-smuggling tunnel running between Tijuana and Otay Mesa back in April.
Fox 5/KUSI has learned the federal law enforcement agency plans to fill the tunnel with thousands of gallons of concrete to stop criminals from using it.
“There could be booby traps. Who knows what’s going on in these tunnels when agents first make an entry,” said Justin Castrejon, a border patrol agent with the San Diego Sector.
Newly obtained video from the U.S. border patrol shows the inside of an unfinished cross-border tunnel linking Mexico and the U.S.
The sophisticated passageway features electrical wiring and a rail system meant to move drugs and other contraband.
Border patrol agent Justin Castrejon says it takes a specialized team to map and investigate it.
“These are border patrol agents that in addition to their functions as a border patrol agent in San Diego Sector, they’ve also taken the training and responsibility to go after these tunnels, to go after the people that are constructing these tunnels,” Castrejon said.
Castrejon says oftentimes agents encounter dangerous tactics.
“They’re moving through this tunnel and discovered that the foreign terrorist organization put in improvised barricades. so material in there to prevent agents from moving through there,” he said.
On Friday, U.S. border patrol took news crews to one of the sites near the Otay Mesa Port of Entry where agents went into the tunnel.
In doing so, they determined the tunnel stretched more than half a mile, was three and a half feet tall, about two and a half feet wide and at its deepest level was 50 feet from the surface of the ground.
“Our law enforcement partners in Mexico, they did map it from a start at a house here in Tijuana. The projected exit point was industrial area here, an industrial housing here in Otay Mesa,” Castrejon said.
There’s a lock on the gate to the house on the Mexican side of the border, along with police tape.
As the investigation continues, the question remains: who is responsible for the tunnel?
“Given the sophistication of this tunnel it was conducted by a foreign terrorist organization. Now this organization is highly organized, highly funded and you can see with the lengths that they put into this tunnel,” Castrejon said.
He added that the federal agency is always encouraging people that live in border communities – like Otay Mesa – to say something if you see something suspicious.
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