<p>Mexican troops in Nogales, in the Northern Mexican state of Sonora, uncovered a drug-smuggling tunnel leading into the U.S., the latest of dozens of illicit passageways found under the border there in recent years, authorities said on Thursday (January 10).</p><br /><p>Mexico's Ministry of National Defense (Sedena) said the 183 foot-long (56 meter) tunnel measured 3.2 feet wide (1 meter) wide by 4.9 feet tall (1.5 meters).</p><br /><p>The passageway ran 24 feet (7.5 meters) below ground from the yard of a house in Nogales,Mexico, leading into the Arizona city of the same name. Nevertheless, the tunnel was still under construction and was only yards away from actually crossing the border.</p><br /><p>Smugglers increasingly bore underground to reach U.S. border cities in Arizona and California from Mexico to beat beefed up security along the line.</p><br /><p>The tunnel was the latest of dozens of illicit passageways found in the Nogales area in the past four years. Agents made no arrests, but found a weapon and unused bullets while securing the area.</p><br /><p>Most of the Nogales-area tunnels branch off from a shared drainage system running beneath the streets of the two neighboring, cross-border cities.</p><br /><p>Last year a similar tunnel was discovered in the same area.</p><br /><p>In 2010, a tunnel was also found under the concrete channel of the Rio Grande River between El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juarez in Mexico.</p><br /><p>-Reuters</p>
