Overview
- Surveillance footage showed at least two separate groups entering and later emerging from manholes in Brooklyn late Friday night and early Saturday morning, with each underground stay lasting roughly two to three hours.
- The NYPD sent its Emergency Services Unit into the sewer system and the New York City Department of Environmental Protection inspected the infrastructure and reported no hazardous items and no damage to equipment.
- Police described a consistent scene in the videos of headlamps, waders or coveralls, shovels and people changing dirty clothes on the sidewalk, details that support investigators’ leading theory that the entrants were searching sewers for lost valuables.
- There have been no arrests and no reported injuries so far, and the NYPD Intelligence Division remains actively investigating the separate incidents captured on video.
- City officials warned that unauthorized entry to sewers is illegal and dangerous because of toxic gases, flood and confined-space risks, and past cases in New York have led to arrests and burglary charges when treasure-hunting trespassers were caught.