Man hauled packages of drug from Mexico across border into Californian canal by using rebreather that stopped bubbles coming to the surface, court hears

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The arrest of a drug smuggler in scuba gear led to the discovery of a tunnel from Mexico that is partially underwater and ends in a canal.

Evelio Padilla pleaded guilty in a San Diego federal court to one count of possession of drugs with intent to distribute.

Border patrol agents said they discovered a soaked Padilla in a wetsuit next to the All-American Canal, about seven miles (11km) east of Calexico, California, on 25 April. Near him they found a tank with a “rebreather” to prevent surface bubbles and several vacuum-sealed and giftwrapped packages that held a total of 55lb (25kg) of cocaine.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The underwater exit from the tunnel. Photograph: AP

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Evelio Padilla in a wetsuit after his arrest. Photograph: AP

That led to the discovery of the 150ft (45.72m) tunnel which began at a house in Mexicali, Mexico, and ended under the water of the canal. The drugs were put on a trolley system on the dry Mexico side of the tunnel and smugglers would use scuba gear to retrieve it from under the canal’s water via an opening normally obscured by rocks.

“Drug smugglers will try anything to move their product — even scuba diving in an underwater tunnel,” US attorney Laura Duffy said in a statement. “The ingenuity of the smugglers is matched only by our determination to thwart it.”

According to the criminal complaint against him, Padilla, a 28-year-old Honduran national who had been living in Mexicali, was told he would be helping to get people across the border, but after jumping the international boundary fence was told he would be smuggling drugs instead. Padilla said he had no other option.

Authorities have not said whether they have learned who built and operated the tunnel, or whether more arrests were expected.

Padilla could face 20 years in prison.