Radar does not work in finding drug tunnels

AP via Houston Chronicle:

A U.S. government effort to find drug-smuggling tunnels underneath the Mexican border with ground-penetrating radar and other high-tech gear has had little success.

Human intelligence has proven to be the most effective method of finding the passageways. A case in point: The longest tunnel ever found along the border was discovered last week after a tip.

The Homeland Security Department said Monday that a Mexican man, Carlos Cardenas Calvillo, was arrested in connection with the 2,400-foot tunnel, which went as deep as 90 feet and was about 5 feet in height and 5 feet wide. He was to be arraigned in federal court on charges of conspiracy to import more than a ton of marijuana.

"The problem is the technology picks up some kind of anomaly or variation of soil," said Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. "We go in with big backhoes and bulldozers, we spend all day doing it, and all we hit is rock or water tables."

...


I think they need to work with the oil field service companies who have made it easier for oil companies to locate new areas to drill by producing graphics that show the make up of a potential field. It should probably work on the tunnels.

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