Dust, broken deep fryers, and perhaps a petrified chicken wing are among the things you’d expect to find in an abandoned fast food restaurant. A secret 590-foot tunnel to Mexico usually isn’t on that list. But that’s exactly what authorities found at an abandoned Kentucky Fried Chicken in San Luis, Arizona. And even though KFC is known for their scrumptious and savory food, the tunnel in question was used for a pretty unsavory activity.
On August 13th, police in San Luis, Arizona pulled over Ivan Lopez after Lopez was spotted removing toolboxes from the abandoned KFC he owned on the U.S.-Mexico border. According to local ABC News affiliate KYMA, once pulled over, a canine unit alerted officers to the toolboxes in Lopez’s trailer.
Authorities found 168 kilograms of hard narcotics in Lopez’s possession, including methamphetamine, cocaine, fentanyl, and heroin. KYMA reports that the amount of fentanyl alone could supply upward of 3 million dosages.
But the discovery of the drugs was just the beginning of a boggling smuggling case. When authorities obtained a search warrant for the KFC, they uncovered a hidden tunnel in the kitchen that was about 22 feet deep and 590 feet long.
The tunnel ended as a residence in San Luis Rio Colorado, Sonora, Mexico.
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and Border Patrol were called to the scene, and they later held a press conference detailing the discovery.
HSI’s Special Agent in Charge, Scott Brown, noted that the eight-inch diameter tunnel was concealed under a trap door beneath a bed at the Mexican entry point. The tunnel was not concealed at the KFC, and agents believe that a rope system was used to hoist the drugs from the tunnel.
Lopez, who purchased the former KFC in May 2018, has already been charged in federal court on four counts of conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance.
This is the fifth cross-border tunnel discovered in Yuma County since 2007. Police plan to fill the tunnel to prevent it from being used in future smuggling operations.
And we thought finding a dried-up chicken wing was bad…
