Police baffled by mysterious tunnel that leads nowhere

After a month of investigation, motives for building the path remain unanswered

It was a baffling discovery: A hand-dug tunnel just a little more than 10 metres long, tall enough for an adult to stand inside, fed with electricity, drained by a water pump and expertly reinforced with lumber and plywood. It started in dense woods near a tennis stadium — and it did not lead anywhere.

After more than a month of investigation by the Toronto police, the identities and motives of whoever built the tunnel remain as mysterious as they were the day it was found. So, on Tuesday, the police turned to the public for help.

“It’s not your everyday find,” Deputy Chief Mark Saunders said at a news conference. “My concern is that I don’t know why this is here.”

The news of the tunnel prompted speculation on cable television that it might be part of a plan for a terrorist attack on the Pan American Games, which will be held in Canada this summer. The stadium, on the York University campus, is scheduled to host tennis for the games. But Saunders said repeatedly on Tuesday that there was no evidence to indicate that the tunnel was intended for anything illicit.

“There’s no criminal offence for digging a hole,” he said.

The tunnel was found on January 14 by a conservation officer from the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority. The officer, whom the conservation authority declined to identify, spotted a large pile of dirt and a gasoline can in the woods, then uncovered the tunnel entrance, concealed under a sheet of plywood covered with earth.

Saunders said that the tunnel was equipped with “a moisture-resistant lighting system” and that, despite the bitter January weather, “it was very comfortable inside,” with temperatures between 70 and 75 degrees. A 3.6-metre aluminium step ladder gave access to the tunnel, and a small pit near the entrance held a Honda generator and an air compressor. The pit was lined with thick foam, apparently meant to muffle the sound of the machinery.

In the tunnel, the police found tools, empty bottles and food containers, and a curious clue: A rosary with a red plastic poppy, the kind Canadians wear to commemorate the country’s war dead each November 11.

When a reporter asked Saunders what it — a rosary nailed inside the tunnel on a wall — told him about its purpose, he replied drily, “That tells me that this was nailed inside the tunnel on a wall.”

The tunnel’s intended destination was another mystery. Had the builders continued digging in the same depth and direction, they would have emerged on the other side of a hill in the woods, far short of the fence separating it from the tennis complex.

Closed off

The tunnel has been filled in by the police. The Canadian Broadcasting Corp. learnt of the discovery and broadcast a report about it on Monday afternoon, and the news conference was held the next day.

Although several national security experts raised concerns on television about the mystery, the mood on social media was more of amusement than worry. Chad Roberts, a lobbyist based in Toronto, mimicked a James Bond supervillain in a post on Twitter: “As my secret tunnel has now failed, I will be building a rigid airship or dirigible for the Pan Am games.”

However, he said, until the city solved its “tunnel crisis,” he intended to avoid the subway.