Armed police in Shenzhen guarding the border with Hong Kong have discovered a small underground tunnel leading from a rented room that they suspect was used for smuggling.

On Tuesday morning, the officers found a three-meter-long, 0.6-meter-wide tunnel connected to a drain that ultimately led to a controlled border area in Liantang, Luohu District.

At about 2:50 a.m. Tuesday, the officers followed three suspicious men through the drain after they were seen carrying bags in the controlled area. The officers and the three men ended up in the rented makeshift house.

However, the men escaped when they were immediately picked up by a car waiting outside the house.

The underground drain, which has a diameter of one meter, runs for about 50 meters and passes under a chain-wire border fence separating Xilingxia Village in eastern Shenzhen's Liantang from the controlled area, the Daily Sunshine reported.

Police suspect the men were smuggling computer parts from Hong Kong. The matter was handed over to Luohu police for further investigation.

The tunnel appeared to have been dug recently because digging tools and clothes that seemed to have been used recently were found in the house.

An ID card was also found belonging to a resident of Heping County in Guangdong Province.

Last year, authorities discovered similar underground tunnels in flats in Shatoujiao and Futian. They were also suspected to have been dug for smuggling because the tunnels led to areas near Hong Kong.

The flats, both on the ground floor, were either rented or purchased at a high price.

(Shenzhen Daily March 18, 2004)