Four arrested in $45 million cocaine tunnel bust near San Diego border

Four people were arrested and charged after investigators uncovered a sophisticated cocaine tunnel beneath a supposed Buy 4 Less store near the Otay Mesa Port of Entry in San Diego, just across the border from Tijuana. Federal officials said the load amounted to 851 packages of suspected cocaine weighing more than 2,269 pounds, with an estimated street value of about $45 million.

The case began in December 2025, when federal agents started watching the warehouse after spotting activity that did not resemble a normal retail operation. Investigators saw minimal customer traffic and workers moving suitcases across the border, signs that the storefront was serving as cover for something far larger than discount merchandise. On May 29, agents observed large, heavy items being loaded into vehicles, and deputies later stopped trucks tied to the operation.

Prosecutors said the tunnel stretched almost 1,950 feet, ran about 55 feet below ground and stood roughly 4.5 feet high. It was equipped with electricity, reinforced walls, ventilation and a rail system, all features meant to speed movement through a hidden route under one of the busiest border corridors in the country. The underground exit was concealed beneath a storage-room floor and could be reached through a hydraulic lift system, an indication of the planning and capital required to keep the passage hidden and operational.

U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon said, “For these defendants, it wasn’t a light at the end of the tunnel. It was lights and sirens.” Federal officials said the operation dealt a significant blow to Cartel Jalisco New Generation, a group that has repeatedly relied on sophisticated cross-border logistics to move narcotics into Southern California.

The tunnel fits a pattern that has become familiar in the San Diego-Otay Mesa corridor. In 2022, federal prosecutors charged six people after finding a 1,744-foot tunnel from Tijuana to Otay Mesa with reinforced walls, a rail system, electricity and ventilation, and agents seized 1,762 pounds of cocaine along with smaller amounts of methamphetamine and heroin. In 2025, Border Patrol announced another tunnel under construction in the area that measured 2,918 feet overall and included electrical wiring, lighting, ventilation and a track system. Border Patrol has said more than 95 tunnels have been found and decommissioned in the San Diego area since 1993.

The latest case underscores how organized smuggling keeps adapting faster than border politics. As walls and checkpoints draw the public debate, cartels keep investing in the quieter frontier below ground, where engineering, concealment and logistics can still move multimillion-dollar loads through the border’s blind spots.