Inside Mexican cartels' World Cup plans – no violence, underground drug tunnels and Skid Row

Mexican drug cartels have altered their strategy during the World Cup, agreeing to refrain from violence to maximize drug sales to fans attending the tournament. Police initially feared warlord Nemesio El Mencho Oseguera's killing by Mexican troops in February would trigger gang-related shootouts, kidnappings and bombings. However, cartels determined that such disruption would deter supporters from attending matches and purchasing narcotics.

Federal drug agents are battling to prevent the World Cup becoming a trafficking opportunity. A US Homeland Security Task Force uncovered a 2,000ft tunnel stretching from Tijuana beneath the border wall to a bogus retail store in San Diego called Buy 4 Less. Four suspected traffickers have been charged on suspicion of conspiring to distribute over a ton of cocaine worth 35m via the underground crossing, which boasted reinforced walls, rail and ventilation systems and electricity.

Mexico has flooded the US with fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 times stronger than heroin, sparking deaths among the homeless in Los Angeles's notorious Skid Row, a four-square-mile stretch dubbed America's overdose capital. The US Drug Enforcement Administration calls fentanyl "the deadliest threat the nation has ever faced."

Drug cartel investigator Jon Bonfiglio told the Daily Star that cartels were multinational corporations that always put profit first and knew going to war during the World Cup would scare off customers. "As long as you're sensible and not stupid about these things and you don't go looking for trouble, you're way more likely to come across a taxi driver who overcharges you than to have any kind of significant issue with a cartel," he said.

Bonfiglio noted that almost all US fentanyl was manufactured in Mexico from Chinese ingredients and shipped north along with cocaine ferried in from Colombia. Instead of fighting, cartels have been selling during the tournament to partying fans descending on co-hosts Canada, Mexico and the US.