Border authorities in Hong Kong and Shenzhen have discovered a 40-metre long underground tunnel linking the two cities. The tunnel was dug with the utmost sophistication and would have cost an estimated 3 million RMB. The owner of the building in Shenzhen from which the tunnel began is in police custody, iFeng News reports.

The entrance of the tunnel, image courtesy of Nanfang Daily

The tunnel, which is 1 metre tall and 80 centimetres wide, begins in the garage of a rented building in Liantang and leads to Falls Park in Hong Kong.

A security guard observes the sophistication of the tunnel, image courtesy of Nanfang Daily

Yesterday, a team of investigators from Guangdong discovered that in the garage opposite building 9 of Liantang Yicun was a collection of tools such as drills as well as bags of silt that had been dredged from the tunnel. They found yet more tools inside the tunnel.

There is a ladder leading into the tunnel, which itself is professionally lit and ventilated and the entrance is sealed with a steel plate. It leads burrowers to a particularly discreet location in Hong Kong.

Where the tunnel came out in Hong Kong, image courtesy of Nanfang Daily

Police suspect that the tunnel has already been put to use by smugglers.