US uncovers crossborder drug tunnel in Arizona

NOGALES, Arizona, June 29 (Reuters) US authorities have discovered a cramped but sophisticated drug smuggling tunnel linking Nogales, Arizona, with its Mexican sister city, Nogales, Sonora, officials said today.

In coordinated raids yesterday, US drug and customs agents moved in on an Arizona home at one end of the tunnel while Sonora state police arrested five people at an apartment on the other side, said US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, in a statement.

Agents discovered the tunnel's entrance in the house's utility room hidden beneath sheets of plywood and weighed down with dirt filled bags. The tunnel had been recently constructed and looked like it had not yet been used, said the ICE statement.

The shaft of the tunnel was reinforced with wood supports and sand bags. It had lighting but no ventilation system.

''Because of the (small) size of the passageway, it wouldn't have been very practical to smuggle people. We think they intended to use it to smuggle narcotics,'' said ICE spokeswoman Virginia Kice.

The tunnel snakes around for some 200 yards but the distance between the homes was just 100 yards.

The drug smugglers who built the tunnel are believed to be connected to kingpin Mexican trafficker Joaquin ''El Chapo'' Guzman, said Nogales ICE official Terry Kirkpatrick.

Police have discovered more than 40 tunnels connecting towns in Mexico and the United States since the September 11, 2001, attacks.

Reuters KK VP0055