Attorney Laura Duffy said they face prison sentences between 10 years and life if convicted.
The tunnel, which zigzags the length of nearly six football fields, links warehouses in Tijuana and San Diego Otay Mesa industrial area. The area is filled with Cheap NFL Jerseys nondescript warehouses, making it easier to conceal trucks being loaded with drugs. Federal agents had the San Diego warehouse under surveillance after being tipped off by an informant who told them that operators bought drills and other construction equipment in August and September. border security has heightened on land, Mexican drug cartels have turned to ultralight aircraft, small fishing boats and tunnels. More than 75 underground passages have been discovered along the border since 2008, designed largely to smuggle marijuana.
The tunnels are concentrated along the border in California and Arizona. San Diego is popular www.wholesalejerseysusa.us.com because its clay like soil is easy to dig. In Nogales, Ariz., smugglers tap into vast underground drainage canals.
The tunnel is the eighth major passage discovered in San Diego since 2006, a period during which Mexico Sinaloa cartel has solidified its hold on the prized smuggling corridor. Immigration and Customs Enforcement head of Homeland Security Investigations in San Diego.
Some of the largest tunnels have been discovered after central Mexico marijuana harvest in October, which presents drug cartels with a challenge of how to quickly get their product to consumers.
Seizures linked to the tunnel include a haul of 3 tons of marijuana in a truck that was stopped by Chula Vista police on Saturday for a traffic violation and 5 1/2 tons of marijuana inside the tunnel, a nearby warehouse and a truck Wednesday, according to prosecutors. The cocaine was found in six suitcases inside a van seen leaving the warehouse Wednesday.