BISHKEK -- Kyrgyz officials say they have found a third tunnel along the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border purportedly used for illegal border crossings and smuggling.
The State Committee for National Security (UKMK) said on June 13 that a tunnel leading to the Uzbek side of the border was discovered in a private house in the town of Kara-Suu in the southern Osh region over the weekend.
According to the UKMK, the owner of the house, whose identity was not disclosed, confessed to digging the tunnel along with his friend, an Uzbek national identified only by his first name, Rustam, to illegally smuggle goods and foreign currency.
It is the third tunnel linking the two Central Asian neighbors purportedly used to cross the border illegally and smuggle goods discovered by Kyrgyz law enforcement in the Kara-Suu district since May 24.