Bosphorus’ underground tunnel looted: Expert

ISTANBUL

Treasure hunters have looted a secret underground tunnel in Istanbul’s Üsküdar district, a cave researcher has said.

Speaking with the İhlas News Agency, Fatih Bayrak highlighted that the 500-meter-long tunnel starts in the Çengelköy neighborhood and ends in the Kuzguncuk neighborhood.

“While we were conducting research in the region, we found this tunnel,” Bayrak said. “My friends and I entered the tunnel and crawled until the end.”

Saying that he informed the local authorities about the tunnel, Bayrak noted, “We saw signs inside that some treasure hunters must have looted it.”

On asked what he found inside, he replied, “We saw traps, some cubbyholes and some broken earthenware jars.”

According to the researcher, treasure hunters are “professionals,” as they have “dug the tunnel to find treasures” but left no traces of any piece of equipment.

Looking at the “clean work” the treasure hunters have done, Bayrak concluded that “there must be valuable old coins or artifacts that they have looted.”

The cave researcher is not sure who first formed the tunnel for what reason, but he is pretty sure that “it dates back to 7th or 8th centuries.”