Retrospective: Smuggling Tunnel to the European Union
Copyright © 2024 by Angelika Regossi (for republishing contact: angelikaregossi@yahoo.com or via LinkedIn messenger)
In the last fourteen months, the world had heard a lot about the tunnels. The underground cities in the Gaza Strip were built by Hamas. The tunnels became on the tip of the tongue since the Israel-Hamas ongoing war from October 7, 2023.
And it reminded me of another tunnel, illegally built under the Ukrainian-Slovak border for smuggling purposes. When it was discovered by the secret services of a few European countries, the first was the shock - how professional this tunnel was done. And then a lot of doubts were raised - why this construction was not noticed by police and border guards. Or they didn’t want to see it?
These two events: the disclosure of Hamas’s tunnels in Gaza and the underground secret of the Ukrainian-Slovak border, inspired me to publish this article
***
It was the middle of the summer when I was called to report on a discovery in Uzhhorod, a city in the westmost point of Ukraine. Finally, after several years of successful illegal operation, the tunnel under the Slovak-Ukrainian border was discovered.
But local people, with whom I spoke in Uzhhorod, told me that they were surprised, that the tunnel was not discovered earlier:
“Everybody knew here, that it existed. We called it “A Metro to Europe”, smiled to me a middle-aged man in black clothes with yellow smoked teeth. And then he added: “There are many tunnels there: some are still under construction, others are ready, but they are not so big as this one”, and he showed with his hand to the west.
Ukrainian Uzhhorod is a center of the Transcarpathia region, which borders four European Union countries: Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, and Romania, making it an attractive place for smugglers.
The man in black was a local construction worker, he knew well what was going on under the Earth. He was sure that the law enforcement officers of Ukraine, from where the tunnel was dug, knew well what was happening because it was impossible to hide:
“The ground had to be taken away. A lot of ground! Tons of ground, when you build such a tunnel. Not talking about expensive equipment: ventilation systems, electricity generators – all had to be bought and delivered. Also, geologists had to deal with underground waters. All these you can not bring to the spot without being unnoticed”, explained a man in black taking a deep puff of a cigarette. “The people who lived nearby saw that a lot of ground was taken away each day. But they were told that it is because of the swimming pool, which is built there”, he giggled to me.
We never met after this conversation and I didn’t want to mention his name for safety reasons.
Please read and listen to the story, which was broadcast on Radio France International (RFI) on July 24, 2012. At that time I worked under the name Agnes Bos (Агнеш Бос).
The reportage is in Russian but you can translate it with Google:
https://www.rfi.fr/ru/ukraina/2012072...
In the last fourteen months, the world had heard a lot about the tunnels. The underground cities in the Gaza Strip were built by Hamas. The tunnels became on the tip of the tongue since the Israel-Hamas ongoing war from October 7, 2023.
And it reminded me of another tunnel, illegally built under the Ukrainian-Slovak border for smuggling purposes. When it was discovered by the secret services of a few European countries, the first was the shock - how professional this tunnel was done. And then a lot of doubts were raised - why this construction was not noticed by police and border guards. Or they didn’t want to see it?
These two events: the disclosure of Hamas’s tunnels in Gaza and the underground secret of the Ukrainian-Slovak border, inspired me to publish this article
***
It was the middle of the summer when I was called to report on a discovery in Uzhhorod, a city in the westmost point of Ukraine. Finally, after several years of successful illegal operation, the tunnel under the Slovak-Ukrainian border was discovered.
But local people, with whom I spoke in Uzhhorod, told me that they were surprised, that the tunnel was not discovered earlier:
“Everybody knew here, that it existed. We called it “A Metro to Europe”, smiled to me a middle-aged man in black clothes with yellow smoked teeth. And then he added: “There are many tunnels there: some are still under construction, others are ready, but they are not so big as this one”, and he showed with his hand to the west.
Ukrainian Uzhhorod is a center of the Transcarpathia region, which borders four European Union countries: Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, and Romania, making it an attractive place for smugglers.
The man in black was a local construction worker, he knew well what was going on under the Earth. He was sure that the law enforcement officers of Ukraine, from where the tunnel was dug, knew well what was happening because it was impossible to hide:
“The ground had to be taken away. A lot of ground! Tons of ground, when you build such a tunnel. Not talking about expensive equipment: ventilation systems, electricity generators – all had to be bought and delivered. Also, geologists had to deal with underground waters. All these you can not bring to the spot without being unnoticed”, explained a man in black taking a deep puff of a cigarette. “The people who lived nearby saw that a lot of ground was taken away each day. But they were told that it is because of the swimming pool, which is built there”, he giggled to me.
We never met after this conversation and I didn’t want to mention his name for safety reasons.
Please read and listen to the story, which was broadcast on Radio France International (RFI) on July 24, 2012. At that time I worked under the name Agnes Bos (Агнеш Бос).
The reportage is in Russian but you can translate it with Google:
https://www.rfi.fr/ru/ukraina/2012072...
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