What Lies Beneath -- Bonus Content

Bonus Content: What Lies Beneath

More video and photos provide an inside look at CBP's anti-tunneling operations

Videos by Dan Barrios, photos by Josh Denmark

Inside Nogales' Main Drainage System

A Border Patrol agent enters the main drainage tunnel in Nogales, Arizona

Border Patrol agents patrol the main drainage system on bikes in Nogales, Arizona.

Border Patrol agents open an entrance to an area in the drainage system.

A Border Patrol agent looks through the steel gates in Nogales' main drainage system, which were built to prevent drug and human trafficking.

CBP Robots at Work

A CBP robot explores a drainage pipe in Nogales, Arizona.

A Border Patrol agent prepares a CBP robot before it explores a drainage tunnel.

A CBP robot is placed in a drainage pipe for exploration.

Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Kevin Hecht monitors the information relayed to a console by the robot as it explores the tunnel.

Border Patrol agents remove the robot from the drainage pipe after it completes the task.

Inside a Rudimentary/Interconnecting Tunnel

An interconnecting tunnel was discovered in a parking lot just across from the border in Nogales, Arizona, which has characteristics of both rudimentary and interconnecting tunnels. A vertical drill was discovered in the tunnel which the smugglers planned to use to break through when the tunneling was complete. The tunnel was discovered before it was completed and remediated to prevent future attempts by illegal smugglers.