Agents uncover 600-foot drug tunnel from Mexico to old KFC in Arizona

Aug. 24 (UPI) -- Arizona authorities have uncovered an old drug-smuggling tunnel running beneath the U.S. border -- stretching from a home in Mexico to a former Kentucky Fried Chicken.

The tunnel runs nearly 600 feet and was found by authorities last week. It was discovered after the San Luis (Ariz.) Police Department pulled over store owner Ivan Lopez this month and he was found to have a large supply of illegal drugs in toolboxes in his truck, police said.

"[In Lopez' truck were] over 118 kilograms of methamphetamine, over 6 kilograms of cocaine, over 3 kilograms of fentanyl, over 13 kilograms of white heroin and over 6 kilograms of brown heroin," Homeland Security agent Scott Brown said. "Just the 3 kilograms of fentanyl translates to over 3 million dosage units."

Lopez told police he'd been removing toolboxes earlier in the day from the abandoned KFC store. An investigation revealed the tunnel, which was 22 feet deep under the border and about 2 feet wide at its broadest points.

The tunnel opening in the store's kitchen area was only 8 inches in diameter. Police believe a rope was used to pull illegal drugs through the tunnel.

A trap door under a bed was discovered at the tunnel's end point, in the home on the Mexican side, in San Luis Colorado, Sonora state.