Mexican Drug Smuggling Tunnel Uncovered in Arizona KFC

Cartel tunnel found in Arizona KFC

Arizona, home of a thousand different types of animals, lizards, and insects that can potentially kill you. And if the wildlife isn’t enough to cause you some stress, meth’d out locals, human traffickers, and the Mexican drug cartel have all set up shop near the “Valley of the Sun,” resembling a Quentin Tarantino movie. It’s “From Dusk till Dawn” meets “Pulp Fiction” meets “The Hills Have Eyes.” It’s a scary sight and it’s definitely the Wild, Wild, West. The drug crisis is showing no signs of slowing down and there’s a steady flow of heroin and ultra-pure methamphetamine still being smuggled into the U.S. through our southern border with Mexico. As the drugs continue to flow in, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol have stepped their game up in regard to busting cartel shipments. In response, the cartel has stepped their game up as far as avoiding the authorities. It’s a cat and mouse game, and in the instance of a major drug smuggling tunnel found in the bowels of an empty fast-food restaurant, it seems the mouse may have got one over on the cat.

Recently, in San Luis, Arizona, a giant tunnel was found in a closed KFC restaurant, only a couple of hundred yards from the Mexican border. The Department of Homeland Security received intel on the tunnel and immediately investigated. Ivan Lopez, the owner of the building, was arrested earlier this month after being caught in possession of meth, cocaine, fentanyl, and heroin, prompting further searches, which uncovered the giant tunnel. Apparently, the tunnel was so large and sophisticated that people could easily walk through it upright. Special Agent Scott Brown told the Associated Press, “One of the things that tunneling does tell us is that as we increase infrastructure, resources, patrol, that’s forcing them to go to more costly routes into the U.S.” Continued investigations into Ivan Lopez are causing authorities to believe that he is an alleged cartel member and he is currently being held without bail at a federal detention facility.

While this is a good bust, for sure, I believe it’s probably just the tip of the iceberg. The drug problem in the U.S. is so profound that busting one highly sophisticated drug smuggling tunnel just makes me believe there’s probably many others just like it that we haven’t found. If you find one, you can bet there’s probably hundreds of others that you don’t see. Traffickers aren’t going to stop flooding drugs into our country for the sole reason that we’re going to buy up the entire supply of drugs and then ask for more. Too much money is made off our society’s desire for mind-altering drugs that we use to numb our pain, check out, and turn our minds into static. If we handled our society’s inability to handle it’s problems, there wouldn’t be such a demand for heroin, coke, meth, etc. and then what? What would happen to the drug supply if it was no longer wanted. Food for thought, I suppose. But for now, it seems like we’ll take as much meth, heroin, and fentanyl as we can get our hands on. And as long as we want it, they’ll give it to us…for a price.


Sources Used:

http://www.fox32chicago.com/news/drug-tunnel-to-mexico-found-below-vacant-arizona-kfc-restaurant

AUTHOR

Jason Good

Jason has been working in the field of addiction and recovery for over 11 years. Having been an addict himself he brings real-word experience to the table when helping addicts and their families, while also offering a first-person perspective to the current drug crisis. Jason is passionate about educating the public about what’s currently going on in our society, and thankfully, offers practical solutions. Jason is also the co-host of The Addiction Podcast—Point of No Return. You can follow Jason on Google+, Twitter, or connect with him on LinkedIn.

NARCONON SUNCOAST

DRUG EDUCATION AND REHABILITATION