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A 73-year-old woman has been accused today of running a complex drug tunnel out of a warehouse in San Diego. She's no Weeds' Nancy Botwin, but it's like a storyline out of the TV show on drug trafficking.
U.S. federal agents announced today that as part of a five-month investigation, they arrested Glennys Rodriguez on Wednesday after they found an underground tunnel at the warehouse located on Via de la Amistad in Otay Mesa (which is close to the border) earlier this week, according to U-T San Diego and Reuters. The building was stocked with children's toys and TVs to look like an export business. The passageway was 68 feet under the building and had a 600-yard tunnel that went to Tijuana, Mexico. There was lighting, a pulley system and a makeshift rail system.
Authorities were tipped off to the warehouse because it contained similar export items like another drug tunnel they discovered back in October that was being operated by the Sinaloa cartel in a warehouse.
And as luck may have it, the agents found a second and more advanced tunnel at 10005 Marconi Drive that went 700 yards to Tijuana as well, but with an electric rail and ventilation system, according to NBC News.
Rodriguez is being charged with conspiring to maintain a drug-involved premises, according to U-T San Diego. It's not clear if the two tunnels are related.
"Going underground is not a good business plan," U.S. Attorney Laura Duffy said in a statement (via Reuters). "We have promised to locate these super tunnels and keep powerful drug cartels from taking their business underground and out of sight, and once again, we have delivered on that promise."
