A fake “Buy 4 Less” store in San Diego had a hidden entrance to a cross-border tunnel to Tijuana, cops have revealed — as four suspects have been charged.
Authorities called it a “sophisticated cross-border tunnel” that had electricity and ventilation. The hole was estimated to be about 1,933 feet long, 55 feet deep, and 4.5 feet in height, with reinforced walls.
Investigators discovered the tunnel after they surveilled the store for months, observing suspicious activity and “minimal foot traffic from customers” coming to the Otay Mesa “Buy 4 Less” store.
Law enforcement observed the “employees” of the store exhibit “unusual activity,” like transporting suitcases, which appeared to be empty, in and out of the store.
Officials decided to spring when they saw people in two separate instances outside the store loading suspicious items into vehicles, making several separate traffic stops leading to massive drug seizures.
In total, officials seized about 2,270 pounds of cocaine from the stops. A search warrant was requested and granted for the store afterwards, leading to the discovery of the tunnel.
Two U.S. residents — 29-year-old Gregorio Epifanio Hernandez Lopez of San Diego and 32-year-old Jose Jimenez of San Diego were charged along with Mexican residents Antonio Cortez, 18, and Brandon Escalante Sandoval, 26.
All four defendants were charged with distributing controlled substances, which has a max penalty of life in prison and a $10 million fine.
Hernandez Lopez was additionally charged with constructing, financing or using unauthorized tunnels and importation of a controlled substance.
U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon said the operation served as the “cardiac arrest” for the drug cartels’ illegal drug smuggling.
“Cocaine is now the lifeblood of the cartels and what you see here today is a cardiac arrest for their system and those defendants,” he said at a news conference Monday.
“They thought they saw the light at the end of the tunnel. In fact, what they saw were our lights and sirens,” Gordon added.
