Standoff in Border Tunnel Ends Peacefully

Armed Mexican soldiers and local Arizona police who came across each other unexpectedly in a flood tunnel spanning the border had a tense standoff before cooler heads prevailed, a Mexican envoy said Thursday.

Roberto Rodriguez, Mexico’s consul in Nogales, Ariz., said the soldiers and city police officers confronted one another in the dark passageway early Tuesday about six feet into American territory. Neither group apparently had known that the other was there.

“It was as serious as it gets,” Rodriguez said. “They were face to face with heavy arms shouting ‘Freeze!’ in Spanish. They were all pointing guns at each other.”

He said the tension quickly eased, once both sides identified themselves.

The eight Mexican soldiers apparently had strayed onto U.S. territory by accident after entering the tunnel looking for drug activity, officials said. The five Nogales officers were helping city workers repair a metal door to the tunnel.

Rodriguez said he plans to meet with officials from Nogales, Ariz., and Nogales, Sonora, to try to devise ways to prevent a recurrence of the incident. He said he will suggest that a fluorescent line be painted inside the tunnel to more clearly mark the border.