Well, I went through all the trouble of hunting down these pictures, so I might as well share them with you. I had planned to do a big write-up on the whole smuggler tunnel story, but I ran out of enthusiasm after editing the photos.

To briefly sum up the story: 3 drug smugglers carved out a tunnel from a small building on the Canadian side of the border to a house on the U.S. side of the border. The Canadian end of the tunnel is in Langley, British Columbia, while the U.S. end is in Lynden, Washington.

According to an RCMP press release, the smugglers were busted before they even started: a Canadian undercover officer learned of the scheme before they even started digging. The smugglers were basically under surveillance for the entire 8 months it took to dig the tunnel, and as soon as they began smuggling marijuana through it they were busted.

Allegedly, even if authorities hadn't known about the tunnel from the beginning, the smugglers would have been busted anyway. Apparently border officers had noticed all the dirt coming out and lumber going in, and notified the appropriate law enforcement unit. I find that hard to believe, frankly, but that is what reports are saying. Surely the smugglers would have hidden the material going in and out, wouldn't they have? Not according to reports.

Anyway, here are the pics. All but the one marked "DEA" are from an RCMP press release.

Above is an aerial view of the tunnel area. I've drawn in the red line to show where the border lies. The road on the U.S. side is separated from the road on the Canadian side by nothing more than a shallow ditch. In blue I've drawn in a possible route for the tunnel. It definitely starts in that Quonset hut on the Canadian side of the border, but where it ends on the American side is unclear. Reports did say it ended in the basement of a house, but for all I know it could be one of those other buildings in the trees. The blue line is my best guess.

(By the way: The large building to the right of the Quonset hut is a greenhouse. Proving that the media will report just about anything, initial reports claimed the tunnel originated in the greenhouse. Yes, they actually claimed the super-secret tunnel originated in a structure made of transparent material.)

Above is the Quonset hut in which the tunnel originates on the Canadian side of the border.

Above: In the Quonset hut is this entrance to the tunnel, made of steel reinforced concrete.

This shows the tunnel itself. The tunnel is shored up with 2x6 lumber, placed on edge. This means the tunnel was shored up an inch and a half at a time! That's a lot of 2x6, let me tell you. Each inch and a half would have required roughly 12 feet of 2x6, at a cost of about $7.50. Over 300 feet that would require 2400 12-footers at a total cost of $18,000. (Officials claim the tunnel is 360 feet, but it looks shorter to me, based on the satellite photo in my previous entry.)

It looks like they had some 2x6 left over. That pile is enough for just over 11 feet of tunnel. The cart was used to haul the dirt through the tunnel and up the entrance shaft.

Above we see the exit to the tunnel, in the basement of a house on the U.S. side of the border.

Last I heard authorities were trying to figure out how to seal the tunnel up. They're talking about using a super-hardening foam. It seems to me they should just dig it up and fill it in. It's only 3-10 feet below the surface, according to reports. How hard could it be?

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Copyright ©2005, David Vanderbyl