A man who had a drug tunnel under his residence, Jovany Alonso Robledo-Delgado, was sentenced on Thursday to 41 months in prison after pleading guilty to Conspiracy to Import Methamphetamine, Cocaine, Fentanyl, and Heroin.
Hi prison sentence will be followed by 5 years of supervised release.
According to the Department of Justice, on December 17, 2019, federal agents executed a search warrant at the house Robledo-Delgado was renting in Nogales, Arizona. In the house, agents discovered a subterranean tunnel down to the International Outfall Interceptor (IOI). The IOI is a wastewater pipeline that begins at the Mexican border and flows north to a plant that treats wastewater from Nogales, Sonora, and cities in Arizona pursuant to an agreement between the United States and Mexico.
Inside Robledo-Delgado’s residence, agents also found large amounts of methamphetamine, cocaine, fentanyl, and heroin. Robledo-Delgado was discovered hiding under a bed in the house.
Robledo-Delgado told agents that he constructed the tunnel so he could breach the IOI and retrieve packages of drugs that floated through the IOI from Mexico into the United States. He was being paid $3000 for each smuggling attempt.