NOGALES, Ariz. (AP) — Another border tunnel from Mexico to the United States has been discovered in Arizona after the U.S. Border Patrol arrested four migrants.
Agents in Nogales, Arizona, found the tunnel on Sunday after a camera operator for the Border Patrol spotted the migrants.
The agents who made the arrest traced the migrants’ trip and came across the tunnel from Nogales, Mexico to Nogales, Arizona.
Border agents uncover smuggling tunnels from Mexico to homes in Nogales
It was the fifth tunnel discovered this year in the Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector, which covers large areas of Arizona. It is also the 125th tunnel discovered in the Tucson Sector since 1990.
The tunnel was just 50 yards away from another cross-border tunnel discovered last week underneath the streets of Nogales, although that one was incomplete.
On Dec. 4, agents and Mexican Federal Police discovered the incomplete tunnel during a routine, bi-national tunnel sweep of the stormwater drainage system that serves both sides of the border, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection news release.
The tunnel’s entrance was concealed with a pile of dirt and capped with a Styrofoam and concrete mixture in the base of an existing drainage system. At its entrance, the tunnel was approximately 3 feet wide and over 4 feet tall. It was located 10 feet underground and extended 20 feet into the United States.
The Border Patrol said it worked with Mexican authorities to trace the tunnel to Mexico. Once they determine that the tunnel is secure, officials plant to fill it with concrete.
Border Report contributed to this story.
