Scuba Across the Border

New Way to Smuggle Cocaine

Drug traffickers are always coming up with new ways to thwart the authorities. Their latest involves scuba diving.

A 28-year old Honduran man, Evelio Padilla, was caught smuggling cocaine from Mexico to the US via an underwater tunnel. When captured the US border patrol agents found him in a wetsuit with a ‘rebreather’ nearby and vacuum sealed packages containing  55 pounds of cocaine.

The 150 foot tunnel started on dry land at a house in Mexicali, Mexico and came out in the All-American Canal about seven miles from Calexico, CA.

Padilla claims that he was forced to cooperate and is only a cog in a large organization. However, I don’t think the Attorney General’s office was buying it.