Eight thieves rented an entire hotel in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, and spent a month digging a secret underground tunnel from it to a nearby oil pipeline.
South Korea’s Yonhap news agency recently reported the arrest of eight criminals who wanted to get hold of the pipeline after spending a month digging a secret tunnel to it from their rented hotel.
The plan is believed to have been hatched by a former employee of Korea’s state-owned oil pipeline operator Daehan Oil Pipeline Corporation who had previously been fired for attempting to steal oil from another pipeline.
They rented a hotel near their target under the pretense that they wanted to acquire it and spent most of the day digging using rudimentary tools to avoid attracting attention with loud noises.
They are believed to have searched the hotel for a long time before approaching the owner and leading him to believe that they wanted to take over the business.
They rented it at a monthly price of 4.5 million won and immediately closed the building and started digging the basement of the building. They worked with only shovels and picks to keep the noise level down, but eventually they got closer to their goal.
In about a month, the eight criminals managed to dig about 10 meters and came within 30 centimeters of the oil pipeline. But just as they began to rejoice, the hotel was raided by the police and everyone in it was arrested.
The tunnel, although reinforced with wood, passed under the highway, which is used by 66,000 vehicles a day, so the authorities must now fill the tunnel, taking care not to damage the foundation of the highway.
The 9-meter tunnel was 78 centimeters high and 81 centimeters wide from the basement of the hotel. The suspects admitted during the police investigation that they planned to sell oil at two gas stations, but they never got hold of it.
(World/Interesting things of the day)