Border officers discover tunnel used to smuggle Chinese from Mexico into US

Dozens of migrants fleeing from US Border Patrol agents led authorities to a surprising discovery over the weekend: A tunnel under the US-Mexico border in San Diego used to bring Chinese nationals illegally into the United States.

Drug cartels have built hundreds of tunnels to move drugs into California.

But it’s unusual to find such a large group of foreigners, especially from as far away as China, come out of an illegal border tunnel, Border Patrol agent Eduardo Olmos said. Agents detained 23 Chinese nationals and seven Mexicans.

“To say the least, this is definitely a significant event because of the amount of people,” Olmos said.

Agents first spotted a large group of men and women on a San Diego street near the Otay Mesa border crossing at about 1am on Saturday.

When agents headed toward them, the migrants ran toward a hole in the ground near a border fence. The hole was covered with a few branches and a wooden ladder led down to an underground passageway to Mexico.