Brooklyn Men Arrested 'Looking for Treasure' in Sewage Tunnels

Three men were arrested for criminal trespassing after disappearing down a Brooklyn manhole on Wednesday night, police say — setting off a four-hour manhunt in the sewage tunnels beneath the Flatbush neighborhood.

Two of the suspects, 35-year-old Damian Nievez and 45-year-old David Hannibal, were allegedly given access to the manhole by an off-duty Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) employee named Marquis Evans, 21.

Officers say they responded to a 7:40 p.m. call of “males entering a manhole” at Avenue H and East 35th Street.

“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.

Citing a secretive ”police source,” the New York Daily News reported in the wee hours that Evans admitted to cops that he and his friends had descended into the sewer to “look for buried treasure and stuff.”

One officer tried to search the manhole and quickly called for backup for the daunting task.

“I dropped down and when I hit bottom, it was about 120 degrees down there, I crawled and crawled, but nothing,” he said. “I had to call the big trucks in.”

Firefighters searched the tunnels and climbed down the manholes in surrounding blocks, the sources said.

Four hours later, police tell Patch, the suspects were located and immediately charged with criminal trespassing.

And Evans, as the alleged mastermind behind the sewer treasure plot, has been slapped with four additional charges: reckless endangerment, criminal facilitation, criminal possession of marijuana and disorderly conduct.

In a statement provided to the Daily News, DEP spokesman Christopher Gilbride says:

“Entering a sewer without proper authorization and training is illegal, incredibly irresponsible and dangerous. Illegally accessing any confined space with potentially hazardous materials or conditions risks the safety of the trespassers as well as the first responders who are called on to rescue them.”