DOJ charges ‘El Ingeniero’ with terrorism in cross-border tunnel case

Federal prosecutors say a 60-year-old Mexican man helped construct a sophisticated drug smuggling tunnel beneath the U.S.-Mexico border for the Jalisco New Generation Cartel.SAN DIEGO (CN) — The Department of Justice announced terrorism charges on Thursday against a Mexican man it says helped engineer a tunnel underneath the U.S.-Mexico border.A federal grand jury returned an indictment against Luis Manuel Hernandez Victoria over designing and constructing what the DOJ says is a sophisticated cross-border tunnel for the Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación. The cartel, which is widely considered one of the most powerful criminal organizations in Mexico, was designated as a terrorist organization by the Trump administration last year.Hernandez, who is known as “El Ingeniero,” is charged with providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, conspiracy to construct or finance a cross-border tunnel, conspiracy to use a cross-border tunnel to import drugs and conspiracy to import drugs.Hernandez, 60, faces life in prison and up to a $10 million fine.“Today’s indictment underscores the relentless commitment of Homeland Security Investigations and our Homeland Security Task Force partners to dismantling the transnational criminal organizations that threaten our national security,” Kevin Murphy, special agent in charge of Homeland Security investigations in San Diego, said in a statement. “By utilizing every resource at our disposal through the Homeland Security Task Force, HSI will continue to bring the cartel leaders and architects of cross-border smuggling tunnels like Hernandez to justice.”“Hernandez engineered his own downfall,” Adam Gordon, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California, added.Mexican authorities in the state of Jalisco, where the cartel is based, arrested Hernandez on Oct. 15 and seized weapons and narcotics, the DOJ said.The DOJ says Hernandez helped build the tunnel, located inside a retail store in the U.S., that was reportedly about 2,000 feet long, 55 feet deep and about 4.5 feet high, with reinforced walls, electricity, ventilation systems and rails. The tunnel extended all the way to Tijuana.Federal authorities discovered the tunnel inside a Buy 4 Less after a May 29 raid in San Diego’s Otay Mesa neighborhood. They also seized cocaine the DOJ valued at $45 million.Homeland Security Investigations maintained surveillance of the Buy 4 Less and several of its employees going back to December 2025, the DOJ says. The employees’ behavior was not consistent with a normal retail store, it says.Investigators saw minimal foot traffic in and out of the store. They also observed the employees transporting a large number of suitcases in and out of the store, which were then transported in vehicles or walked across the border.Federal authorities, along with San Diego County sheriff’s deputies, seized more than 1 ton of cocaine from three different vehicles.Two men from California and two men from Mexico were also indicted on drug charges following the tunnel’s discovery. Hernandez is the seventh person to be charged with crimes connected to the tunnel.About 100 such tunnels have been found throughout Southern California over the last three decades.The DOJ says its investigation is ongoing.Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación was founded in 2011 from the remnants of the Sinaloa Cartel-affiliated Milenio Cartel. It operates throughout most of Mexico and in dozens of other countries around the world.Subscribe to our free newslettersOur weekly newsletter Closing Arguments offers the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world, while the monthly Under the Lights dishes the legal dirt from Hollywood, sports, Big Tech and the arts.Additional Reads