TIJUANA U.S. authorities on Monday announced rewards ranging from US1,000 to US200,000 for information on drug trafficking along the border with Mexico or leading to the discovery of so-called "narcotunnels" used to smuggle drugs into the United States. A Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) official who asked not to be identified told EFE that the rewards are intended to reduce drug smuggling in the Tijuana-San Ysidro area and at other points along the mutual border.
An announcement publicizing the rewards appeared in the most recent edition of the Tijuana magazine Zeta.
The information for which a reward would be paid must be related to the movement of vehicles transporting cocaine, heroin or methamphetamine, or to the location of tunnels, safe houses, warehouses or other storage facilities used for drug and/or immigrant smuggling, the announcement said.
The rewards disbursed would vary depending on the quantities of drugs seized and the importance of the information provided.
The DEA official said that two toll-free telephone lines had been set up for people to provide information to authorities. Callers can give their information with the guarantee of absolute confidentiality.
The toll-free numbers are 001-888-254-5868 in Mexico and 1-888-254-5868 in the United States, and callers are asked "never to give their names" but only a pseudonym or other secret key-word by which they can be identified.
In November, Mexican authorities discovered a tunnel 2.5 feet wide and 60 feet long across the border in Tijuana. The tunnel originated in a house under construction on the Mexican side of the frontier.
Tijuana is the primary area of activity of the Arellano Felix brothers' drug cartel, one of the main cocaine smuggling organizations into the United States.
