'El Chapo' drug-smuggling tunnel with underground railway into US discovered at border (photos)

A drug-smuggling tunnel nearly a mile long and equipped with its own railway and lift has been found at the US border with Mexico.

The 4,300ft passage, believed to have been built by El Chapo’s Sinaloa cartel, is the longest known illicit underground route into the United States.

Complete with a ventilation system, high-voltage power cables and drainage, it is like the one used by the crime boss to escape jail in 2015.

On average 70ft below ground, it is almost 6ft high and 2ft wide.

It starts in an industrial area of the border city of Tijuana in Mexico, ending in a neighbourhood of San Diego, California, where its entrance was found covered by several hundred sandbags.

It was discovered by authorities in August but has only now been revealed.

No arrests or drug seizures have yet beensmade in relation to the find.