Padilla faces a maximum of 20 years in prison at sentencing. Close to him, they discovered a respiration tank with a “rebreather” to stop floor bubbles, and a number of other vacuum-sealed and giftwrapped packages that held a complete of 25 kilograms of cocaine.
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Just after 10 p.m. on April 25, Border Patrol agents near the Calexico West Port of Entry were sent information from a video surveillance operator that an unknown individual was discovered near the All-American Canal.
Here’s a first look at the intricate underwater tunnel that drug smugglers built into a canal at the US border – the first time that a tunnel was built into the All-American canal.
Padilla-Zepada pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court to one count of possession of drugs with intent to distribute for smuggling 55 pounds of cocaine through the underwater tunnel.
That led to the discovery of the 150-foot-long tunnel, which began at a house in Mexicali, Mexico, and ended under the water of the canal. Photograph: AP Evelio Padilla in a wetsuit after his arrest.
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Padilla, who was living in Mexicali, was told that he would be helping people across the border, but when he got across himself he was then told he’d be smuggling in drugs. The drugs were put and transported on a trolley system located inside of the tunnel. “The ingenuity of the smugglers is matched only by our determination to thwart it”, Laura Duffy, an American lawyer, said in a statement, according to Fox News Latino. He said he didn’t have any other option but to don the scuba gear and get the drugs. The U.S. exit point was partially submerged and covered with rocks that had to be moved to access the opening, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Diego. Court records did not reveal who Padilla may have been working for, or if more arrests would be made.
