The U.S. Department of Justice says a San Diego grand jury charged Mexican engineer Luis Manuel Hernandez Victoria with four offenses tied to an alleged cross-border drug tunnel, two carrying life maximums.
The indictment alleges material support for a foreign terrorist organization; a conspiracy to construct or finance a cross-border tunnel; a conspiracy to use a tunnel to import controlled substances; and a separate conspiracy to import controlled substances. The U.S. Department of State designated the Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG) a foreign terrorist organization effective Feb. 20, 2025.
Prosecutors say the tunnel ran from Tijuana to a retail store near San Diego’s Otay Mesa Port of Entry. Authorities found its exit beneath the store at 2498 Roll Drive, Suite E, on May 29, 2026. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) estimated the passage at about 1,933 feet long, 55 feet deep and 4.5 feet high. Investigators described a reinforced underground passage with rail tracks, power and ventilation.
The DOJ’s June account said agents found about 1,029.60 kilograms (2,269.87 pounds) of suspected cocaine in three vehicles. A sample tested positive for cocaine in a field test. The department valued the seizure at $45 million in June and more than $45 million in its Oct. 29 announcement.
The material-support and tunnel-construction counts each carry maximum prison terms of 20 years and fines of $500,000. Each import-related count carries a maximum of life in prison and a $10 million fine. Those are statutory maximums, not sentences.
The DOJ’s June release counted 99 underground passages discovered in the Southern District of California since 1993, with 28 classified as sophisticated. It identified 2022 as the year of the most recent earlier discovery of an operational tunnel in the district.
The DOJ, citing public reports, said Hernandez was arrested in Jalisco on Oct. 15 and Mexican authorities seized weapons and narcotics at the time. He is the seventh person charged in the case, and prosecutors say investigative work continues. The charges have not been proved in court; Hernandez retains the presumption of innocence.
