A 590 foot tunnel has been discovered by Peruvian authorities in the vicinity of Miguel Castro Castro prison – and police suspect it was dug by El Chapo’s old Sinaloa Cartel to bust a Serbian drug lord.
The National Police of Peru believe construction on the tunnel – which is buried 33 feet underground – began a year and a half ago after a Colombian national rented a property near the prison.
Locals told police that construction mostly took place overnight, with dump trucks regularly arriving to take away excess rubble.
The tunnel is five feet high and four feet wide, contains water pipes to soften the earth, and is thought to have been dug by hand, La Republica reports.
It is thought the plan was to spring Serbian drug lord Zoran Jaksic from prison, who was sentenced to 25 years last year after an investigation linked him to the trafficking of 800 kilos of cocaine.
Jaksic is leader of the Grupo América drugs gang, which is rumoured to be allied to El Chapo’s old Sinaloa Cartel.
The plan was foiled, however, when rumours of Jaksic’s planned escape reached officials and he was transferred to the high security Piedras Gordas as a precaution. It’s likely work on the tunnel was abandoned after this.
