Mexican authorities on Tuesday discovered a tunnel on the Matamoros side of the Rio Grande, a statement from U.S. Customs and Border Protection confirmed.
The agency declined to specify whether the tunnel ran all the way to Brownsville or that it was used to smuggle narcotics.
“ On August 24, 2020, the Border Patrol’s Rio Grande Valley Sector received information that a tunnel was discovered on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande, south of Brownsville, Texas. The Border Patrol is working with Federal, state, and international partners in the investigation,” the agency confirmed in a statement.
Reports circulating on social media on Tuesday suggested that a convoy of military personnel with Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional (SEDENA) discovered the tunnel while touring an area near the river near Colonia Las Arboledas and Colonia Los Pinos.
Those posts concluded that the tunnel led to the Milpa Verde Street area in Southmost.
SEDENA has not yet published any press releases regarding the tunnel’s discovery on its website.
Officials with the Brownsville Police Department, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection declined to confirm the tunnel’s existence in Brownsville.
Photographs circulating online, posted by multiple sources, showed a rectangular entrance to the tunnel dug into the ground on a flat piece of land near a grove of trees in Matamoros.
Inside, the photos show a narrow, dusty tunnel held up with wood framing. The floor of the tunnel is filled with murky water. The inside is visible only up to several yards ahead.
