Dog thwarts escape plans of Corfu Prison tunnelers

A tunnel that a group of convicts from Corfu Prison had likely been digging for weeks was discovered on Saturday morning after a man walking his dog in a park next to the jail heard noises and alerted police.

The local resident became suspicious after his dog stopped at a spot near the prison and resisted the man’s efforts to pull him away. When the dog walker heard sounds that appeared to be coming from below the ground, he contacted the authorities, who dispatched officers to the prison.

Police found a tunnel around 30 meters long, starting from the prison’s B Wing where 21 convicts serving long or life terms are being held. Inside the tunnel, investigators found battery-powered fans and plastic containers of food, according to local reports.

In 1996 more than 120 inmates at the same prison managed to break out after digging a tunnel during a two-week takeover of the facility.