Sometime
in 1960's I had seen a Hollywood film titled as The Great Escape. The
film was about an escape by Allied prisoners of war from a German POW
camp during World War II, through a tunnel. The film starred Steve
McQueen, James Garner and Richard Attenborough. Digging a secret
tunnel for escape in an emergency is not a new concept though. Almost
all major forts in India, built in medieval times, had one such
escape tunnel, from where the king could escape in case of a mutiny
or foreign aggression.
In my
home town Pune, ramparts of an old palace of Peshawas, exist even
today. There is a nearby hill, on which temples of idols worshiped by
the rulers existed. People show even today, a secret passage
connecting these two monuments. However this supposed to be secret
passage is not very convincing as the distance between the monuments
is bit too much. But leaving aside this skepticism, the point I am
making is that such tunnels were dug in history to provide secret
communications or escape route.
One of
the examples of such an underground tunnel in modern history is from
Vietnam. During Vietnam war, Viet Cong forces had built an immense
network of connecting underground tunnels located in the Củ Chi
district of Ho Chi Minh City and were part of a much larger network
of tunnels that underlied much of the country. The tunnels known as
Củ Chi tunnels, were the location of several military campaigns
during the Vietnam War, and were the Viet Cong's base of operations
for the Tết Offensive in 1968. The tunnels were used by Viet Cong
soldiers as hiding spots during combat, as well as serving as
communication and supply routes, hospitals, food and weapon caches
and living quarters for numerous North Vietnamese fighters. The
tunnel systems were of great importance to the Viet Cong in their
resistance to American forces, and helped to counter the growing
American military effort.
The
point I am trying to make is that people have been building tunnels
for escapes, entries or military uses all along. I had never heard
before of a tunnel built for smuggling merchandise. Such a tunnel has
been discovered in Hong Kong, which is an autonomous region of China
with a semi democratic Government machinery in place. The taxes in
Hong Kong have a much lower structure and things cost much less there
compared with the rest of Chinese mainland. These facts make it a
very lucrative business to smuggle things out of Hong Kong and into
China or the other way for goods manufactured in China. As an example, Apple products cost 17% more in Mainland China
compared to Hong Kong. At all the road, rail and water crossings
between Mainland China and Hong Kong, smugglers try to smuggle
things and battles between smugglers and the authorities happen on
daily basis. There is nothing new about it.
Last
week, Chinese authorities discovered a tunnel from Chinese mainland
to Hong Kong almost near completion. The tunnel was being dug near
the border of Hong Kong, in Changling village of Shenzhen ibn the
Guangdong province of China. The tunnel, with concrete walls and
interior lighting, started under a garage near the city of Shenzhen
and stretched for 40m (130ft) under a river and into reed-beds in
Hong Kong. Authorities estimate that the tunnel must have cost about
$500,000 to build. It was planned for use by smugglers to import
mobile phones and other electrical goods into Hong Kong. The tunnel
was was complete with rail tracks, a chain wheel and a small cart to
transport electronic and luxury goods. It was designed professionally
and had a wagon with a block-and-tackle system using rails to
transfer goods. The narrow tunnel, 0.8m wide and one metre high, also
had hanging lamps and ventilators meant to help smugglers pass
through the tunnel.
The
entrance and exit to the tunnel were hidden very well. The Hong Kong
end opened in a cluster of tall reed near a river. The Shenzhen end
was hidden beneath a garage full of packing boxes, rented by the
smuggler using a fake identity card. Residents in the area near
Shenzhen said they heard sounds of drilling on some nights but
assumed they were part of some construction work going on nearby.
The
tunnel, about 20meters short of its intended destination, was
destroyed by the authorities. Police have not been able to apprehend
anyone so far.
28th
December 2013
(Images sourced from BBC)
No comments:
Post a Comment