The shocking find under a KFC restaurant

Police uncovered a secret drug tunnel stretching from a former KFC in the US state of Arizona across the border to Mexico.

The almost 180 metre-long passageway was in the basement of the old restaurant in San Luis, leading under the border to a home in San Luis Rio Colorado, Mexico.

Police found the tunnel last week and have subsequently arrested the owner of the building in the US, KYMA News reported.

The tunnel was discovered under an old KFC restaurant in Arizona, US, used to smuggle drugs across the Mexican border. Source: Homeland Security Investigations/Yuma Sector BP
The tunnel was discovered under an old KFC restaurant in Arizona, US, used to smuggle drugs across the Mexican border. Source: Homeland Security Investigations/Yuma Sector BP

A traffic stop by cops of the owner Ivan Lopez led to the discovery not only of the tunnel but also a large haul of drugs.

During the stop, police dogs reportedly led officers to two containers of hard narcotics with a street value of more than $1.36m inside Lopez’s vehicle.

Investigators say the containers held 118kg of methamphetamine, six grams of cocaine, 3kg of fentanyl and 21kg of heroin.

They then searched his home and his old KFC restaurant, discovering the tunnel’s entrance in the kitchen.

The passageway ended up in a house in Mexico. Source: Homeland Security Investigations/Yuma Sector BP
The passageway ended up in a house in Mexico. Source: Homeland Security Investigations/Yuma Sector BP

In 2016, a 792 metre-long tunnel was found by authorities in San Diego, California, also being used to transport illegal narcotics.

Authorities then said it was one of the longest such drug tunnels ever discovered, used to transport an “unprecedented cache” of cocaine and marijuana.

The passageway was seven-metres deep and 180-metres long. It ended up in a house across the Mexican border.

The drugs are believed to have been pulled up through the tunnel with a rope.

The tunnel stretched for almost 180 metres. Source: Homeland Security Investigations/Yuma Sector BP
The tunnel stretched for almost 180 metres. Source: Homeland Security Investigations/Yuma Sector BP

However, this is not the first such discovery of such a tunnel by police.

Drug trafficking on on the US-Mexico border remains a huge problem.

In July alone, US Border Patrol seized 15kg of heroin, 11kg of cocaine, 327kg of methamphetamine and 1,900kg of marijuana at border checkpoints nationwide.

Earlier this mont, 50 tonnes of methamphetamine was discovered hidden in an underground drug lab in the mountains outside the Mexican capital of Sinaloa state.