NARCO TUNNEL FOUND IN EL PASO: DRUG ROUTE RUNS 130 FEET
UNDER RIO GRANDE

EL PASO -- U.S. Border Patrol agents on Friday discovered a tunnel
used by drug traffickers that stretched 130 feet under the
concrete-lined Rio Grande from Mexico into the U.S. -- a surprising
find and the first such tunnel in El Paso.

The crudely made tunnel, about 2 feet high and 2 feet wide, was found
near the Bridge of the Americas, officials said.

Though small, dark and unventilated, the tunnel was wide enough for
people to crawl from the Mexican side into the U.S. It opened up
inside a storm drain in El Paso.

The tunnel, which was dug 2afeet under the river, was discovered after
Border Patrol agents became suspicious of noises and used electronic
devices to find them, officials said.

They found 200 pounds of marijuana inside the tunnel and arrested
17-year-old boy from Mexico who was nearby about 1:30 a.m. Friday,
officials said.

"This is the first of its kind. This is the first time a Border Patrol
agent has found one," said El Paso Border Patrol spokesman Doug Mosier.

"Agents patrolling the area grew suspicious when they heard noises in
the area near the canal," Mosier said. "A sensor technician and a
border agent then discovered the tunnel."

Officials said they don't know how long the tunnel had been used or
what kinds of drugs had been smuggled into the U.S.

Tunnels used by drug traffickers have been found in various parts of
the U.S-Mexico border including Douglas and Nogales, Ariz., and San
Diego. The largest tunnel was 4 feet high and 2 feet wide and had
lighting and a railway car inside, according to the San Diego Union
Tribune.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Leticia Zamarripa
said Mexican officials were working with the agency to find the origin
of the tunnel in Juarez.

Smugglers have used storm drains in El Paso to cross illegally into
the U.S. for some time, officials said.

"They try to abuse the usage of the storm-drainage systems in order to
make their entries into the north," Border Patrol Agent Ramiro Cordero
said. "But when they do so, they run the risk of getting stuck or
injuring themselves when they take these risks."

He said he was surprised that the drug traffickers would tunnel under
the river to get to the U.S. He said most officials thought it would
be a barrier.

"This is something we never thought of and it was surprise, surprise,"
he said.

He said agents found clothes and gym bags inside the tunnel that could
belong to the 17-year-old suspect or to the tunnel diggers.

Cordero said officials use seismic sensors, infrared and magnetic
sensors in looking for tunnels.

The tunnel diggers had to break through a concrete wall in the storm
drain on the El Paso side, officials said.