Originally published on April 7, 2014<br /><br />U.S. officials uncovered two drug-smuggling tunnels running across the border with Mexico and arrested a 73-year-old woman charged with overseeing their construction, agents for Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced on Friday. <br /><br />The two tunnels discovered last week were the sixth and the seventh to be found in San Diego's Otay Mesa area in less than four years.<br /><br />The entrance of the first of the two tunnels, discovered on Tuesday, was found within a warehouse, hidden under boxes of televisions and toys and sealed by a concrete slab. <br /><br />The small entrance opened to a 15-foot walkway, which led to a 70-foot vertical shaft complete with a half-ton winch and pulley system. The tunnel stretches some 600 yards, ending at another warehouse in Tijuana. <br /><br />A second 700-yard tunnel equipped with a multi-tiered electric rail system and ventilation equipment was discovered on Thursday in the same area.<br /><br />No drugs were found in the tunnels at the time of their discovery, and agents cannot tell whether the drugs moved through the tunnels before they were discovered.<br /><br />Arrested on Tuesday, 73-year-old Glennys Rodriguez denied any connection to the warehouse tunnels despite surveillance evidence showing the contrary. According to a complaint filed by the U.S. Attorney's office, Rodriguez paid a friend to lease one of the warehouses under his name while the tunnels were under construction.
