Mexico City, October 23 (teleSUR-RHC)-- A tunnel reportedly belonging to the fugitive drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was discovered Thursday by Mexican federal authorities in the border city of Tijuana across from San Diego, California.  Local officials said they also seized 10 tons of marijuana in the police operation.

The tunnel was slightly shorter than the one El Chapo escaped through on July 11th and was found near the Otay border crossing point, Mexico's National Security Commission (CNS) said in a statement.

“We estimate that tunnel was about 800 meters long (0.8 miles), of which, 600 meters were constructed under Mexican soil, while 200 more were in United States territory,” the commission said. 

The CNS explained the discovery of the tunnel late Wednesday is the result of weeks of investigation, after a large flow of trucks were detected coming in and out of a warehouse.
    
Authorities said that 16 persons were detained in the operation and are being charged with drug trafficking. 

Officials said the detainees allegedly confessed to working for a drug organization from Jalisco linked to Guzman dedicated to smuggling drugs into the United States.
  
Mexican federal forces and U.S. police officials have found over a hundred tunnels in the past few years along the 2,000-mile border that divides Mexico and the United States that were linked to El Chapo and his Sinaloa cartel.

As all other tunnels discovered, the one found Wednesday had lighting and ventilation systems in place, as well as rail tracks to quickly and efficiently move shipments of drugs. 

Two security sources told Reuters that this tunnel belongs to Guzman, who escaped for a second time from a maximum security jail through a mile-long tunnel. Since his escape, according to the Mexican government he has “almost” been recaptured twice. The last time, according to an official who spoke with CNN on Wednesday, he was spotted walking near Cosala, a town up in the Sinaloa mountains, when – without further explanation – he allegedly fell from a small cliff, broke a leg, injured his face, but managed to incredibly evade special forces.