text: This may look like your average wooden wardrobe, but it actually has a hidden purpose. Concealed within its doors is a tiny trapdoor that leads to a secret underground passageway stretching some 500 feet towards the U.S. border. Mexican soldiers uncovered the suspected drugs tunnel  and arrested nine people before they managed to dig under the border and successfully into American territory. Scroll down for video . Does it lead to Narnia? Mexican soldiers uncovered a trapdoor leading to a suspected drugs tunnel hidden inside this wooden wardrobe . A Mexican official prepares to descend the 10 feet long ladder to enter the hidden tunnel in the border town of Tijuana . The sophisticated passageway was wired with lights, ventilation and what appears to be a cart system by the gang of drugs runners . The 66ft deep route, which was still under construction and was being built next to the Tijuana checkpoint, was wired with lights and ventilation. Soldiers who entered the passageway, just west of A.L. Rodriguez International Airport, had to descend a 10 feet ladder to access the muddy path. Officials said the route had not yet crossed the border and only stretched some 500 feet. But officials believe if it had been left undiscovered it would have surfaced somewhere just inside U.S. territory. The site of the tunnel is estimated to be around seven miles by car from the official border crossing at San Ysidro, but is less than a mile as the crow flies from the actual border. The border is just over 22 miles from the city of San Diego, California. When soldiers raided the property they also reportedly seized 44 pounds of marijuana and a truck being used by the racket to move the excavated earth. The tunnel was said to be close to the Mexican air force installation as well as a regional federal police facility . Government officials have said that similar tunnels have also been used to smuggle migrants into the United States. Over the past decade, dozens of illegal tunnels have been found across the roughly 2,000 mile U.S.-Mexico border. A soldier examines the tunnel which already stretched some 500 feet from the property when it was discovered by Mexican soldiers . The route had not yet reached U.S. soil, but if it went undiscovered official believe it would have surfaced a short distance from the border . Barrels containing dirt excavated to make way for the passageway were lined up ready to be emptied at the tunnels entrance . The property in Tijuana, close to the border, where the start of the tunnel was discovered by Mexican soldiers .
target: Nine people have been arrested by soldiers after 500 feet long tunnel found under home in Tijuana, Mexico .
  Secret passageway accessed through trapdoor hidden inside wooden wardrobe in property bedroom .
  Underground tunnel was being built close to the Mexican border crossing near San Diego, California .
  Officials believe gang were constructing the passageway in a bid to smuggle drugs covertly into the U.S.