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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Scuba Diver Admits He Smuggled Cocaine

SAN DIEGO (CN) - A 28-year-old scuba diver smuggled 55 lbs. of "gift wrapped" cocaine into the United States through an underwater drug tunnel, he admitted Wednesday.

Evelio Padilla-Zepeda, of Mexicali and Honduras, faces up to 20 years in federal prison at his Dec. 7 sentencing.

Border Patrol agents nabbed him on April 25, "soaking wet and dressed in a wet suit" near the All-American Canal, prosecutors said in a statement of facts .

Agents then found a 50-yard-long tunnel, with a rail system, from Mexico into the United States, exiting into the canal.

Padilla pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine with intent to distribute.

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