Cocaine Smuggler Associated With Sinaloa Cartel Convicted for California-Delaware Cocaine Pipeline
View of a tunnel through which Mexican drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman tried to escape during the military operation that resulted in his recapture, in Los Mochis city, Sinaloa State, Mexico on January 11, 2016. Mexican marines recaptured fugitive drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman on January 8 in the northwest of the country, six months after his spectacular prison break embarrassed authorities. HECTOR GUERRERO/AFP via Getty Images

After discovering his connection with the narcotics operation from California to Delaware, a federal jury has convicted a cocaine smuggler associated with the Sinaloa cartel.

The man reportedly built a drug bunker with a secret entrance, compartment, and tunnel under his Bear home to conceal his drug operations.

Cocaine Smuggler Builds Drug Bunker Under Home

According to Delaware Online, Omar Morales Colon, 44, is now facing a minimum of 10 years in prison for the crimes. He was indicted on several charges in 2017, including possession with intent to distribute marijuana and conspiracy to distribute cocaine.

Based on the reports from the police and prosecutors handling the case, Colon and other individuals who were associated with the Sinaloa cartel brought a total of 77 kilograms of cocaine coming from the state of California to Delaware in four-foot-tall, welded-closed oxygen tanks.

After successfully delivering the drugs, the drug traffickers then used the same tanks to carry back their profit of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Investigators noted that the deals happened at least four times between December 2016 and June 2017. Prior to the 77-kilo delivery, the first three trips of the group involved 20 kilograms of cocaine per delivery.

Omar Morales Colon was arrested after their fourth trip. It happened shortly after meeting his cocaine supplier in a hotel parking lot in Christiana. Colon was caught giving the supplier an amount of $382,045 in cash in exchange for the 17 kilograms of cocaine.

When the law enforcement raided Colon's home, they discovered the sophisticated tunnel system hidden behind a false fireplace made as a cover. The tunnel that was found led the authorities to an underground bunker, where Colon grew his marijuana supply.

At the time of Colon's 2017 indictment, a special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration's (DEA) Philadelphia field office, Shawn Ellerman, said the bunker and tunnel were estimated to be 2,000 square feet with 20-foot ceilings. Colon had allegedly created a hydroponic grow lab there.

Ellerman said at the time that the tunnel was something that the DEA usually deals with in the southwest portion of the country. Authorities confirmed that Colon and other members of "this narcotics trafficking organization" were associates of the Sinaloa cartel. The infamous Sinaloa cartel was a well-known and well-established drug trafficking organization in Mexico.

A year after Colon's first indictment for the drug operation in 2018, he was indicted once again for using the drug venture to buy properties in the states of Delaware and Pennsylvania.

Aside from Omar Morales Colon, his wife, Shakira Martinez, and their company, Zemi Property Management Incorporated, were charged with several drug and money laundering offenses.

'Longest Ever' Smuggling Tunnel in U.S.-Mexico Border

U.S. officials have discovered the longest smuggling tunnel ever found on the border with Mexico in August 2019. Mexican officials have identified the tunnel's entrance, and U.S. authorities mapped it.

When they searched the tunnel, which stretches for 4,309 ft., authorities found air ventilation systems, lift, rail track, drainage, and high voltage electrical cables inside.

The said tunnel was connected from an industrial site in the Mexican city of Tijuana to the San Diego area in California. Authorities linked the tunnel with the infamous Sinaloa cartel.

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Written by: Jess Smith

WATCH: Record-length U.S.-Mexico Drug Tunnel Discovered - From CBS Evening News