Nogales Smuggling Tunnel Pictures Released; Shaft Ran 70 Feet South From a Home

Image: ICE, HSI

The smuggling tunnel found in Nogales yesterday had internal support structures to guard against cave-in.

Border authorities shut down a tunnel Tuesday that ran 70 feet from a U.S. home in Nogales, Arizona to Mexico.

Pictures just released show the builders of this tunnel, which was obviously used for smuggling, were no amateurs. And we're betting they got a Lowe's gift card as an early Christmas present.

According to ICE:

The tunnel, which has some internal support structure, is approximately 70 feet long, three feet wide and two feet tall, and extends 25 feet into Mexico. The depth of the passageway ranges from four to 22 feet.

That's a lot of dirt to haul away -- we'll let you math scholars figure out how much.

Images: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Bureau, Homeland Security Investigations

The U.S. side of the tunnel was hidden beneath the front porch of a home, about one half-mile west of the DeConcini Port of Entry. It came up on the other side in a drainage tunnel that runs parallel to the international border.

When officials searched the home, they found "numerous excavation tools."

The bust was "spearheaded," says the release, by the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Homeland Security Investigations, which also involved the U.S. Border Patrol, the Nogales Police Department, and Mexico's Secretaria de Seguridad de Publica.

UPDATE: Police found an even bigger tunnel on Tuesday running from a warehouse in San Diego to a warehouse in Tijuana. This one was 400 yards long, making our state's tunnel diggers look like pikers.

San Diego-Tijuana express route.