Instead, whoever appeared to have plotted a heist at a Chase bank in Pembroke Pines, Florida, chose a rather unglamorous, subterranean approach. The plan involved a narrow, 150-foot-long tunnel dug into the dirt.
Officials discovered the tunnel on Tuesday night after public works employees in Pembroke Pines, about 20 miles north of Miami, went to deal with a sinkhole in the road. Curiously, the workers found a power cord inside it. Realizing it was a tunnel, they eventually called local police, who notified the FBI on Wednesday morning.
FBI investigators found that the tunnel had a diameter of about 3 feet and opened up into a wooded area, Special Agent Michael D. Leverock said in an interview Wednesday. It was so narrow that a person would have to lie on his or her stomach to navigate it, Leverock said.
Investigators found no other opening, indicating that the tunnel may have been unfinished. But the passageway was clearly directed toward a Chase bank on a tree-lined street across from a strip mall. Leverock said they knew that the tunnel reached the bank’s property but were trying to determine whether it reached the building, a single-story white structure with a drive-through window.
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No one got into the bank, and no money was stolen, Leverock said. In a tweet, the FBI called it an “attempted bank burglary.” But what confused investigators, Leverock said, was how anyone imagined successfully penetrating a high-security bank from underground through a tunnel that appeared to be dug with pickaxes.
“Everybody here is just shaking their heads,” he said. “They could’ve been going for the ATM, they could’ve been going for the vault.” But after the would-be bank thief reached the ultimate destination, Leverock speculated, then what?
Inside or near the tunnel, investigators found a wagon that had likely been used to haul dirt, as well as a power generator and a winch, which can be used to haul heavy loads, according to an FBI news release.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.