It looked like just another discount shop. A weathered storefront near the Otay Mesa border crossing. A sign that read Buy 4 Less. But nobody ever seemed to be buying anything. And the men who kept walking in and out — carrying empty suitcases — weren’t there to shop.
They were running a cartel tunnel straight into Mexico.
Federal agents revealed Monday that the San Diego shop was a front for the Jalisco New Generation Cartel — one of Mexico’s most violent and powerful drug organizations. Beneath the store’s floor sat a 55-foot-deep shaft, accessed through a hidden hydraulic lift, leading to a tunnel stretching over 1,000 feet toward the US-Mexico border — and an estimated 800 feet further into Tijuana.
Homeland Security agents had been watching the shop since December. Something was off — no customers, no foot traffic, just men loading up and disappearing. The break came on May 29, when investigators watched suspects pack deep freezers into a truck. A traffic stop followed. Drug-sniffing dogs hit on every package. Between the truck and two other vehicles, agents pulled over a ton of cocaine.
Once inside Buy 4 Less, agents found an engineering marvel — and a criminal one. The tunnel was nearly five feet tall, equipped with a rail-and-cart system, electricity, and ventilation. It wasn’t a hole in the ground. It was a private underground highway for drugs.
Among those charged is Gregorio Epifanio Hernandez Lopez, who faces the rare additional charge of building and financing an unauthorized tunnel. All four suspects — two Mexican nationals, two Americans, the youngest just 18 years old — face potential life sentences.
“The discovery and dismantlement of this sophisticated cross-border tunnel, along with the seizure of more than a ton of cocaine, underscore the commitment of Homeland Security Investigations.” — Kevin Murphy, Acting Special Agent in Charge, HSI San Diego
It is the first cross-border tunnel discovered in southern California since 2022. Since 1993, authorities have found 99 such tunnels — but only 28 were this sophisticated. This one may be the most brazen yet: hidden not in a warehouse or industrial lot, but inside a shop with a sign in the window.
They called it a bargain store. The only bargain was for the cartel — until the day the agents came knocking.
