Cross-border tunnel tied to San Diego front store yields more-than-a-ton cocaine bust

Federal prosecutors charged four suspects—two Mexican nationals and two Americans aged 18–32—with conspiring to traffic more than a ton of cocaine linked to a cross-border tunnel that ran from a San Diego front store, Buy 4 Less, to Tijuana. The 55-foot-deep tunnel stretched over 1,000 feet to the border (with about 800 feet into Mexico) and used a rail-and-cart system, electricity, and ventilation. Authorities seized more than 2,250 pounds of cocaine and, in addition to drug charges, one defendant faces an extra count for constructing, financing, or using an unauthorized tunnel. This is the first cross-border tunnel found in Southern California since 2022, part of a long-running network associated with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.