Three men arrested after ‘treasure hunt’ in New York City sewer

A city worker and his two buddies were busted for climbing down into a Brooklyn manhole to hunt for “gold, jewelry and guns” in the sewers, authorities said Thursday.

Police said the men had spent four long hours in that environment, located near East 35th Street near Avenue H, CBS New York reported.

An officer went into the sewer and called for the two men to come out, and when there was no response, summoned backup, authorities said.

The man told the officers he was an off-duty Department of Environmental Protection trainee and he and his two friends had gone down to “look for buried treasure and stuff… anything that’s interesting”, according to a police source.

He remained above ground during Wednesday’s jaunt, quickly replacing the manhole cover after his friends climbed down, the sources said.

Evans was charged with reckless endangerment, criminal facilitation and marijuana possession.

“It was a little cat and mouse down there”, Mr. Boyce said.

“After a four hour search for these individuals, they were eventually apprehended and taken into custody – inside that location, I would imagine”, says the NYPD spokesperson.

The DEP said Evans has been suspended.

“Entering a sewer without proper authorization and training is illegal, incredibly irresponsible, and unsafe”, spokesman Christopher Gilbride said. He was awaiting arraignment in Brooklyn Criminal Court on Thursday and couldn’t be reached for comment.

“Any idiot that wants to crawl below the streets, unfortunately can do it by prying [a manhole]”, he said. “I really thought it was something serious – even said to my daughter ‘are we going to blow up?’ It was really a lot of cops and firefighters”, says eyewitness Janet Perrotti.