2 TONS OF POT FOUND IN BORDER TUNNEL

2,400-Foot Path From Tijuana To San Diego Linked Warehouses

SAN DIEGO (AP) - More than 2 tons of marijuana were found inside one
of the longest and most sophisticated tunnels ever discovered along
the Mexican border, officials said Thursday.

The size and scale of the tunnel - the 21st discovered in more than
four years - stunned authorities, who said that the passageway
revealed the lengths smugglers will go to evade detection.

The tunnel began near the airport in Tijuana, Mexico, and ended 2,400
feet away in a San Diego warehouse, said Michael Unzueta, special
agent in charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in San
Diego. It was unclear how long the tunnel had been in operation, he said.

Mexican investigators found the entrance Tuesday inside a warehouse
near the airport, about 150 yards south of the border. A 6-by-10-foot
cement shaft equipped with a pulley dropped about 75 feet to the tunnel.

U.S. authorities located the exit Wednesday. At least 60 feet below
U.S. soil, they found a tunnel floor lined with concrete, lights that
ran down one of the hard soil walls, and air piped down from the
surface, Agent Unzueta said. The tunnel was 5 feet high.

More than 2 tons of marijuana were found on the tunnel's Mexican side
and about 200 pounds on the U.S. side, he said.

Authorities on both sides of the border were checking to see who
owned the warehouses.

Also Wednesday, U.S. and Mexican authorities found an unfinished
tunnel when a U.S. Border Patrol vehicle struck a sinkhole near the
San Ysidro border crossing, which links Tijuana and San Diego. It was
about 2 feet underground and extended about 30 feet into the United
States, near a storm drain.