Alleged CJNG tunnel builder faces four U.S. charges
Original reporting: El Financiero
What happened
El Financiero reports that Luis Manuel Hernández Victoria faces charges over a Tijuana–San Diego tunnel discovered in May 2026. Authorities say he is the seventh person charged in the case.
Reporting and context
U.S. authorities have charged Luis Manuel Hernández Victoria, a 60-year-old Mexican known as “El Ingeniero,” with four offenses over his alleged role in a drug-smuggling tunnel connecting Tijuana and San Diego, according to El Financiero. Prosecutors accuse him of collaborating with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, or CJNG.
El Financiero reported that the charges include providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization, conspiring to build or finance a cross-border tunnel, conspiring to use it to import controlled substances, and conspiring to import drugs. The Justice Department alleges that Hernández Victoria helped design and build the passage.
The tunnel was discovered on May 29, 2026, beneath a business identified as Buy 4 Less at 2498 Roll Drive, near San Diego’s Otay Mesa border crossing. The source described it as approximately 589 meters long, 16.7 meters deep and 1.37 meters high, with reinforced walls, rails, ventilation and electrical installations.
U.S. federal authorities seized more than one tonne of cocaine when the tunnel was discovered, with an estimated value exceeding $45 million, the outlet reported. Those figures concern the tunnel discovery, rather than the later operation in which Hernández Victoria was detained.
Mexican authorities arrested him in Jalisco on October 15 and seized weapons and narcotics, according to U.S. government information cited in the report. The Justice Department identified him as the seventh person charged in the case.
The report said the tunnel-construction and material-support charges could each carry up to 20 years in prison and fines of $500,000. The drug-importation charges carry maximum penalties of life imprisonment and fines of up to $10 million. These are potential penalties attached to the charges.
Homeland Security Investigations, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the FBI and Border Patrol are investigating the case. The investigation remains open, according to the report.
Original report: El Financiero.