When Donald Trump said “build a wall”, drug smugglers said, “hold my beer”.

While America spends millions on a border wall (part of which recently fell over, FYI) which Trump claims will stop drugs from entering America via Mexica, drug smugglers have continued to do what drug smugglers do best – move illegal substances across borders in very creative and innovative ways.

US authorities have just announced the discovery of what they’re describing as the longest smuggling tunnel ever discovered on the south-west border.

The Guardian has the specs:

[The tunnel has] a passageway stretching three-quarters of a mile from Tijuana to a warehouse district located 15 miles south of San Diego.

US Customs and Border Protection said on Wednesday that the tunnel runs more than 4,300ft (1,313 meters), at about 70ftt (1.68 meters) below the surface.

This is no ordinary tunnel. It includes an extensive rail-cart system, a ventilation system, a drainage system, high voltage electrical cables and panels, and an elevator. There also appear to be rest points, where people can hide out if necessary.

Take a look:

More footage of the tunnel:

This isn’t the first cross-border smuggling tunnel that they’ve found between the US and Mexico.

The first cross-border smuggling tunnel was discovered in 1990, a project of drug kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, then-head of the Sinaloa cartel, as he looked for new ways to carry drugs to the US undetected. Since then, authorities have unearthed scores of tunnels along America’s southern border, from Texas to California.

While they didn’t find any drugs, or arrest any suspects following the latest tunnel discovery, the investigation into its origins is ongoing.

The area near the border along San Diego is heavily fortified and militarized. Border agents routinely patrol the area, looking for people trying to scale or cut through the fence.

Despite Donald Trump’s continued focus on building a massive wall an estimated 80 to 90% of narcotics of drugs enter the country by way of vehicles passing through the US ports of entry.

But keep building that wall, Trump.

In his own words:

Mexico is not going to build it [a wall], we’re going to build it. And it’s going to be a serious wall. It’s not going to be a toy wall like we have right now where cars and trucks drive over it loaded up with drugs and they sell the drugs in our country and then they go back and, you know, we get the drugs, they get the cash, okay, and that’s not going to happen.

That’s the American president, folks.

What a time to be alive.

[source:guardian]