Police have a raided network of tunnels and sewers in Bucharest, home to a community of drug addicts. Bruce Lee, who led the underground community has been arrested along with 5 others.

Police have carried out a large-scale raid on a network of Bucharest tunnels and sewers, home to hundreds of men, women and children stricken by drug abuse and TB. Police said the operation followed months of surveillance on what they described as an organised criminal gang and reports of child prostitution.

Over the past year, some of the so-called ‘sewer people’ constructed a shack by the tunnel entrance in an attempt to build a better life above ground. This was the complex just last week – before the raid took place:





It had 20 rooms, beds for 60 people, kitchens, internet access and a pool in the courtyard.

The tunnels and shack were a form of shelter for an alienated community – many of them born in Ceausescu’s notorious orphanages.

Police seized knives, swords, stolen paintings and a large quantity of stolen cash. They also claimed they raided an upmarket villa – away from the tunnels believed to be owned by network’s leader, Bruce Lee.

Police seized knives, swords, stolen paintings and a large quantity of stolen cash. They also claimed they raided an upmarket villa – away from the tunnels believed to be owned by network’s leader, Bruce Lee.

The tunnels were a destination for people looking to buy synthetic heroin substitutes and to inhale the fumes of a metallic paint called aurolac.

The self-styled ‘king of the sewers’, Bruce Lee may be imprisoned – but another gang lord was bound to take his place. And its likely to do little for the Bucharest’s people of the tunnels

Watch Paraic O’Brien’s original report: