Pete McKenzie
February 13th, 2007, 19:06
I think I've seen something about these on here before, but I can't find it now. Anyway, here's a piece from today's Manchester Evening News:
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/236/236056_raid_on_tunnel_network_sparked_big_terror_a lert_.html
"Tuesday, 13th February 2007
Raid on tunnel network sparked big terror alert
Mike Slingsby
BURGLARS sparked a major terrorist scare when they broke into a network of tunnels beneath Manchester city centre, a court heard.
The thieves struck hours after the failed July 21 bombing attempts in London in 2005 at a time when police in Manchester were on high alert.
Officers were tipped off after British Telecom received complaints about problems with phone lines in the city. It was discovered there had been a break-in at a small BT building in Islington Street, Salford.
The building gives access to a network of tunnels built in the 1950s as a secret telecommunications centre designed to withstand a nuclear bomb strike.
A team of forensic experts was sent into the tunnels amid fears the break-in might be a terrorist incident. But it was discovered it was nothing more than a burglary.
The intruders had stolen BT tools worth £14,000 before causing £20,000 damage to phone lines.
A discarded cigarette end was found at the scene, and a DNA analysis led police to 29-year-old Duncan Ritchie, Manchester Crown Court heard.
Ritchie, of Rodney Street, Salford was jailed for 10 months after admitting burglary. He admitted stealing some of the tools but denied vandalising phone cables.
Tunnels
Michael Johnson, defending, said Ritchie had entered the tunnels as a drunken prank when he saw a group of people standing outside their entrance.
"He was not part of the vandalism and he does not accept he took all the items which went missing," said Mr Johnson.
But Judge Anthony Ensor said he believed the break-in would have required a `considerable amount of planning'.
He told Ritchie: "This was a serious incident.
"The police treated it as a terrorist incident because of the unhappy timing with terrorist activity in London." The court heard that bricks had been removed from around the BT building which allowed access to the underground network.
Prosecutor Tina Landale said: "At first police believed it was a terrorist incident and acted accordingly, with a full forensic team being sent into the tunnels."
The tunnels are part of the Guardian Underground Telephone Exchange, built in 1955 at a cost of £4m as a secret communications centre in the event of a Soviet nuclear strike on Manchester.
They lie 112ft below ground and run for over two miles from one entrance in Islington Street to another in Ardwick.
The main tunnel is below Back George Street, where telecoms staff worked 24 hours a day on six switchboards in the bunker, which had its own water supply and a six-week supply of food.
Soon after the tunnels were built they became virtually obsolete and were abandoned in the 1970s.
They are still used by BT to run cables under the city centre. A fire in one tunnel in March 2004 resulted in 130,000 phones being cut off in the Manchester area."
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/236/236056_raid_on_tunnel_network_sparked_big_terror_a lert_.html
"Tuesday, 13th February 2007
Raid on tunnel network sparked big terror alert
Mike Slingsby
BURGLARS sparked a major terrorist scare when they broke into a network of tunnels beneath Manchester city centre, a court heard.
The thieves struck hours after the failed July 21 bombing attempts in London in 2005 at a time when police in Manchester were on high alert.
Officers were tipped off after British Telecom received complaints about problems with phone lines in the city. It was discovered there had been a break-in at a small BT building in Islington Street, Salford.
The building gives access to a network of tunnels built in the 1950s as a secret telecommunications centre designed to withstand a nuclear bomb strike.
A team of forensic experts was sent into the tunnels amid fears the break-in might be a terrorist incident. But it was discovered it was nothing more than a burglary.
The intruders had stolen BT tools worth £14,000 before causing £20,000 damage to phone lines.
A discarded cigarette end was found at the scene, and a DNA analysis led police to 29-year-old Duncan Ritchie, Manchester Crown Court heard.
Ritchie, of Rodney Street, Salford was jailed for 10 months after admitting burglary. He admitted stealing some of the tools but denied vandalising phone cables.
Tunnels
Michael Johnson, defending, said Ritchie had entered the tunnels as a drunken prank when he saw a group of people standing outside their entrance.
"He was not part of the vandalism and he does not accept he took all the items which went missing," said Mr Johnson.
But Judge Anthony Ensor said he believed the break-in would have required a `considerable amount of planning'.
He told Ritchie: "This was a serious incident.
"The police treated it as a terrorist incident because of the unhappy timing with terrorist activity in London." The court heard that bricks had been removed from around the BT building which allowed access to the underground network.
Prosecutor Tina Landale said: "At first police believed it was a terrorist incident and acted accordingly, with a full forensic team being sent into the tunnels."
The tunnels are part of the Guardian Underground Telephone Exchange, built in 1955 at a cost of £4m as a secret communications centre in the event of a Soviet nuclear strike on Manchester.
They lie 112ft below ground and run for over two miles from one entrance in Islington Street to another in Ardwick.
The main tunnel is below Back George Street, where telecoms staff worked 24 hours a day on six switchboards in the bunker, which had its own water supply and a six-week supply of food.
Soon after the tunnels were built they became virtually obsolete and were abandoned in the 1970s.
They are still used by BT to run cables under the city centre. A fire in one tunnel in March 2004 resulted in 130,000 phones being cut off in the Manchester area."