>>> now to a remarkable discovery and a record pot bust along the nation's border with mexico . federal agents have found a massive secret passage , an elaborate tunnel equipped with a rail system and an elevator used to smuggle drugs into the u.s. tonight nbc 's mark potter takes us inside.
>> reporter: federal agents say it's the most elaborate smuggling tunnel they've seen in years. more than 600 yards long with wooden walls and floors.
>> this tunnel has lighting. it does have good air flow indicating there's some type of ventilation system forcing air in from mexico .
>> reporter: the tunnel begins on the mexican side of the border in a warehouse in the tijuana airport . to lure drugs into the tunnel there's a hydraulic elevator which leads to a rail system where an electric cart waits to carry marijuana to the u.s. side. on steps leading upward the tunnel emerges inside another warehouse in otaymesa, california. this enhanced aerial photograph shows the tunnel going beneath a runway, roads, a big park lot and the border fence . all considered, a highly-efficient mechanism to move narcotics in an underground environment.
>> reporter: police say they seized 32 tons of marijuana, a record for a single tunnel . much of it was hidden in pumpkin boxes. federal agents suspect it's the work of mexico 's powerful cinaloa drug cartel , harvesting its ever increasing fall marijuana crop. authorities say especially this time of year, traffickers need tunnels to smuggle huge drug loads to the u.s.
>> if they can't cross the border above ground, they attempt to tunnel underneath it.
>> reporter: the cartel is headed by joaquin guzman , known as el choppo or shorty since his daring escape from prison 10 years ago, mexican authorities have been unable to touch him.
>> he has the police under his thumb. he controls much of the judicial system in his state and neighboring states. and he's virtually an untouch untouchab untouchable.
>> reporter: in the last four years, american agents have found 75 tunnels from mexico to the u.s. but say this one is the most sophisticated. mark potter , nbc news, miami.
>> when nbc nightly news continues,
Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/45536714/
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