When most people look at a K.F.C., they usually think of fried chicken, but one restaurant was serving far more than that! An anonymous tip led to police officers raiding the fast food chain and uncovering a hidden tunnel.
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Just the presence of the crude tunnel sent red flags amongst the police officers, but when they followed it down to where it ended, they immediately called for backup! Read more to find out who dug this mysterious tunnel and why!
Biggest Case
Officer John Erwin had worked for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for a considerable time. He had seen people do crazy things to sneak into the country illegally during his tenure.
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This meant that the officer always had his guard up. Still, even he could never have thought that a simple K.F.C. building in Arizona would hide one of the most significant illegal operations he had seen. They wouldn’t have found out if it hadn’t been for an anonymous tipoff.
Established Chain
Seeing a K.F.C. restaurant isn’t an alarming site, especially with over 20,000 stores worldwide and almost 4,500 in the U.S. alone. So, when a franchise opened up in San Luis, Arizona, yards from the border crossing, no one thought twice about it.
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All homeland security agents visited the establishment regularly and were even glad to have the ability to enjoy a quick and delicious meal in the middle of their busy and chaotic day.
Mysterious Shutdown
But a few months after its opening, the fast food joint shut down despite it being a popular spot to eat. While this was strange, homeland officers already had a lot on their minds, and the opening and closing of restaurants didn’t take precedence in their workdays.
Image: Google Maps
Soon the restaurant was abandoned with all of its original K.F.C. decoration still intact, but the shell of the building began to fall victim to neglect. Within another year, the place looked derelict.
Activity
Despite that, it seemed like there were always a few cars parked in front of the restaurant. While this was odd, officers thought it was teenagers who were using the parking lot to mess around.
Image: YouTube/TODAY’S TMJ4
But if they had taken a closer look, they would have realized that the type of cars parked in front of the abandoned K.F.C. were luxury cars that no teenager could easily afford! And on top of that, strange lights began to shine from within the building.
Rumors
It was clear that there was still no electricity in the fast food chain, but someone was inside. Rumors soon began to swirl, but none of them were even close to the reality. Instead, many thought that the building was getting revamped again.
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While others thought that a corporation was buying the K.F.C. building, another rumor was that a wealthy local man had purchased the building in cash without explaining why! Of course, none of them really knew what was going on.
Months Go By
People began talking more and more as cars whizzed around the abandoned building. Something was happening, but while this was the talk of the town, authorities seemed oblivious to what was happening.
H.S.I.
They thought they had bigger things to worry about but didn’t know what was going on under their noses. It was a call from an anonymous tip that finally gave them the direction they needed to figure out what was happening.
The Unexpected Call
Late one evening, H.S.I. special agent Scott Brown’s cell phone rang. Although this was highly unexpected, and Brown assumed it was the wrong caller, he even considered sending the call straight to voicemail.
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But then, a strange feeling came over him. His instincts urged him to wake up and answer his phone. He never dreamed that the man on the other end of the line would give him a tipoff like this.
Getting A Warrant
After getting off the phone, he knew he had to get a warrant… and fast. But, unfortunately, time seemed too creepy as Brown waited for the morning to officially file for a warrant to search the defunct K.F.C. building.
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If the information he had just been told on the phone was current, every minute they waited was a minute that allowed illegal immigration into the country. Finally, the warrant was granted, and Officer John Erwin was dispatched to head the team of I.C.E. agents.
Initial Impression
Erwin wasn’t as convinced as Brown regarding the elaborate scheme the anonymous caller claimed was occurring in the K.F.C., but he had to double-check and make sure. John was so confident that nothing was going on that he decided to go alone to investigate the building.
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And as he drove up to the K.F.C., he was sure he was right. The place looked abandoned, with layers of dust collecting in the windows and no new footprints found. The door was locked, and there looked to be no way to get in or out of the building quickly.
Getting Inside
But, of course, Erwin had a warrant and needed to go inside to ensure everything was as it seemed. He had to force himself inside the dusty restaurant, but as soon as he entered the building, he knew he was wrong.
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The floor was clean and recently swept! However, it looked like someone was living there! Immediately on his guard, Erwin slowly searched the premises, and as he opened the kitchen door and saw what was inside, he immediately ran outside and called for backup!
A Secret Tunnel
With his team now by his side, Erwin decided to go back inside and headed straight to the kitchen. There he showed the group the 8-inch hole in the wall, which was crudely covered with plaster.
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It was clear that someone was trying to cover the hole up, and with the building only yards away from the border, it is evident that the team had to find out where it ended. Once the plaster was chipped away, a deep shaft was unveiled.
Inside The Tunnel
They decided to post guards outside the hole, and Erwin ventured inside, annoyed that someone had managed to dig a tunnel this close to the border without them finding out about it until now and yet excited that he was the one uncovering it.
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John used a flashlight to navigate himself inside the pitch-black tunnel and what he saw astounded him. It seemed like hundreds of wooden planks lined the walls, with the tunnel opening wider and becoming three feet wide and five feet tall- large enough for a man to fit easily inside.
Footsteps
As the officers explored the tunnel, the silence was broken by the sound of footsteps running in the opposite direction. The team was immediately on guard, and someone knew they were in the tunnel!
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The tunnel was obviously positioned to go under the Mexican border, straight into Mexico! And at the end of the 600-yard-long passage, they came to a ladder that led to a trap door in the ceiling.
Emerging
Above him, he saw rusty bed springs and a man crouching in the corner of the dusty room. He looked unarmed and looking to flee the area, but I.C.E. agents swiftly surrounded him. This man didn’t look to be in charge but did hold information regarding the operation.
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They then climbed back through the tunnel, arrested the man, and confiscated a suitcase full of drugs! It turns out the anonymous tip was entirely right! This K.F.C. hid a very dark secret, indeed.
All Connected
In the next few days, the abandoned K.F.C. was swarmed by officers, and during their research, they learned that the building was just a tiny piece of a puzzle in a more extensive operation.
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Border police had pulled a man over for a routine traffic stop despite the man’s license and plates checking out, service dogs uncovered drugs inside his car, and he was immediately arrested. The man was Ivan Lopez, an infamous drug kingpin.
Background Check
Lopez was the one who had purchased the old K.F.C. — for which he had paid $390,000 in cash, and after questioning him, he confessed to his plans of smuggling drugs into the U.S. through the tunnel.
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A simple search of the tunnel led to confiscation of narcotics worth around $1 million. But how had they gotten away with it? Well, it was clear the tunnel was used, but its small size allowed the mobsters to dig it without alerting the border police.
New Way
“Tunnels are a time-consuming venture, but [they have] definitely increased since border security measures have ramped up,” H.S.I. special agent Scott Brown said in a statement. If the tunnel had never been found, thousands of kilos of drugs would have been transported into the United States.
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“One of the things that tunneling does tell us is that as we increase infrastructure, resources, patrol, that’s forcing them to go to more costly routes into the U.S.,” he added. While the officers gave details regarding most of the operation, they never unveiled who was the anonymous tip that led to the discovery.
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But thanks to that call, Authorities now have Lopez, a prominent member of the Mexican cartel, in prison without bail while awaiting criminal charges. And while these cartel tunnels are becoming more common around the Mexican border, there is a way to combat them.
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And the fact that the officers were able to find this one despite being well-hidden inside an abandoned K.F.C. proves that I.C.E. agents are vigilant and always go the extra step to protect the united states of America’s border.
This One Was Different
According to Brown, all the substances authorities found were all “hard narcotics.” He said: “I think that’s what makes this tunnel a little unique and, frankly, a little scarier than some of the others we’ve seen.”
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“Generally along the southwest border, every couple of months, we’re encountering a tunnel,” he explained. “Of course, if you can’t go over the wall, you go under [it].” We should be grateful to the men and women who serve as border patrol officers to protect us from these constant threats.