A Mexican engineer accused of helping build a nearly 600-metre drug-smuggling tunnel between Tijuana and San Diego has been indicted in the United States on four federal counts, including providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organisation.
Luis Manuel Hernández Victoria, 60, known as El Ingeniero (The Engineer), was named in a grand jury indictment announced on 29 October 2026. US prosecutors allege that he designed and constructed the passage for the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG). He has not been convicted, and the allegations remain to be proved in court.
A tunnel beneath a supposed shop
The passage was found on 29 May 2026 beneath a premises trading as Buy 4 Less at 2498 Roll Drive in San Diego, close to the Otay Mesa border crossing. According to the US Department of Justice, it ran approximately 1,933 feet (589 metres) from Tijuana, Mexico, into California.
It was no basic hole in the ground. Federal officials described reinforced walls, electricity, ventilation and a rail system for moving goods. The tunnel ran about 55 feet (17 metres) below ground and was up to 4.5 feet (1.4 metres) high. A hydraulic lift concealed in a storage room provided access at the shop.
The investigation also led to the seizure of approximately 1,030kg (2,270lb) of suspected cocaine. Federal prosecutors estimated its value at more than $45 million. That figure is the estimated value of the seized drugs, not the reported cost of building the tunnel.
How investigators uncovered the operation
US agents said they had been watching Buy 4 Less from December 2025 to May 2026. They noticed very little apparent customer activity despite repeated visits by supposed staff and the movement of suitcases.
On 29 May, surveillance teams observed a series of vehicle movements involving the shop and another nearby location. Sheriff’s deputies stopped vehicles, police dogs alerted to suspected drugs and investigators subsequently obtained search warrants. Inside the shop, agents discovered the concealed tunnel exit.
The Justice Department said 851 packages were recovered from the stopped vehicles. Investigators identified about 1,029.6kg of material that field-tested positive for cocaine.
Who is El Ingeniero and what is he accused of?
Prosecutors allege that Hernández Victoria played an engineering role in constructing the tunnel for CJNG. The Justice Department said that, according to public reports, he was arrested in the Mexican state of Jalisco on 15 October 2026.
A San Diego federal grand jury subsequently charged him with four offences:
- Providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organisation
- Conspiring to construct or finance a cross-border tunnel
- Conspiring to use a cross-border tunnel to import controlled substances
- Conspiring to import controlled substances
The October indictment made him the seventh person charged in connection with the tunnel, according to prosecutors. The US investigation remains ongoing.
Why does a drug tunnel involve a terrorism charge?
The unusual feature of the case is the material-support charge. The US government designated CJNG a foreign terrorist organisation on 20 February 2025. Prosecutors allege that Hernández Victoria’s work helped that organisation, bringing the case within the scope of US federal material-support legislation.
That legal designation does not mean the authorities have alleged that this particular tunnel was constructed to carry out a terrorist attack. The allegation concerns support for an organisation designated as terrorist by the United States.
The material-support count carries a statutory maximum of 20 years in prison. Two of the drug-importation-related conspiracy counts carry maximum penalties of life imprisonment. These are possible maximum sentences, not penalties already imposed.
Watch: Inside the San Diego cartel tunnel case
California Reports examines the tunnel, the cocaine seizure and the indictment. The original investigation and later charges are documented independently by federal prosecutors.
What we know and what remains unresolved
The discovery, the seizure figures and the October charges are set out in official US Department of Justice releases. What has not been established publicly in the cited releases is a trial outcome, a conviction or a final judicial determination of Hernández Victoria’s alleged role. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Follow this story: San Diego cartel tunnel updates.
