Mexicali (Mexico), Feb 25 (IANS/EFE): Police in this northwestern Mexican border city seized a "cannon" used to launch packets of drugs to the US side of the frontier, officials said.

The pneumatic-powered device was found mounted on the back of a pick-up truck with California license plates, Mexicali's police chief, Marco Antonio Carrillo, said.

According to authorities, the device was capable of shooting two-kg cans containing the drugs to a distance of 400 meters inside US territory.

Municipal police found the abandoned vehicle during an operation in a neighbourhood of the Baja California state capital. No arrests have been made.

Carrillo said the mobility of this drug-smuggling method has made it a problem for authorities on both sides of the border.

Separately, US and Mexican authorities Friday dismantled a tunnel under construction in the US border city of Nogales, Arizona. The passageway is one of 27 found in that city over the past three years.

In the joint operation, Mexican authorities arrested a man who was found digging the tunnel on the Mexican side of the border.

Arizona is one of the main entry points for illegal drugs and undocumented immigrants along the US-Mexico border.