The mystery of the people from the hatches captures New York: What are the city's "moles" up to?

Mysterious cases of people emerging from hatches keep the whole of New York in suspense. Residents are wondering what the city's "moles" are up to. This is reported by the British The Guardian.

"It all started in early May. Under the cover of darkness, three people opened a manhole cover in Queens, New York, and descended into the sewer. The incident could have gone unnoticed, but the underground quest captured on film attracted the attention of New Yorkers, repeated several times in the same month — two other groups were caught on video climbing into and out of the sewers in Brooklyn. The chain of events led to the fact that the participants (of the mysterious groups. — EADaily) were called "moles" by the local press," the publication says.

A mysterious study of the sewers caused summer intrigue in New York.

"I saw that they were up to something bad. They climbed there (into the sewer. — EADaily), closed the lid, as if they were not there. Three unknown guys in strange costumes. They open the sewer and go inside like "teenage mutant ninja turtles,"— one of the eyewitnesses told NBC New York.

As the British newspaper explains, he was referring to the comic "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", whose characters are four "turtles" living in the sewers of New York. These are brothers who were exposed to radioactive waste in their youth, which turned them into human-turtle hybrids. Trained in martial arts by a large rat, they fight New York criminals. "The story is not based on real events," The Guardian adds ironically.

Strange sewer adventures attracted the attention of the public. Local publications wonder what strange "people from the hatch" are doing there. A new theory has emerged that they may be looking for valuables in the city's 7,400 miles of sewers, accessible through 5,000 manholes.

"In 2015, a New York State Department of Environmental Protection intern was arrested after being trapped in a sewer, and last year three men were arrested after entering a sewer in Brooklyn, allegedly in an attempt to find gold. They were not the first to come up with this idea — back in 1936, the New York Times reported that the police pulled $3,500 from the sewers in Manhattan," the British newspaper recalls.

The New York Police told the Guardian that "there is no threat to public safety at the moment," but an investigation is underway in connection with these cases.

The New York State Department of Environmental Protection, meanwhile, said that the sewers were inspected in all places and "our infrastructure is safe." The DEP warned that the penetration of unauthorized persons into the sewer system is illegal and at the same time extremely dangerous.

"Residents of the city are closely watching the new shots of night explorers, even if they do not compete with Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo," the newspaper concludes.

As reported by EADaily, the NYPD is conducting an investigation related to the appearance of groups of people from the city's sewer systems at night. This was reported by the British The Guardian.

The investigation began after the publication on social networks of videos depicting how people climb out at night through manholes from sewage systems in different parts of the city.