Sewer treasures

A person who is down in the gutter should be helped or, in this case, pulled out. And that’s what first responders in Quezon City did for the man who was spotted in a gutter in Barangay Tatalon on 24 September.

Rescuers had to remove the concrete cover to pull the trapped man out, GMA News reports.

When barangay officials asked how he ended up in the drainage system, the man could not give them a clear answer, according to GMA News.

Some reports said he claimed he was chased by his former partner’s current beau and he jumped into the San Juan River and was swept into the drainage system. His former partner said he was depressed and was behaving erratically.

Barangay officials suspected he might be a member of a so-called “termite” gang that breaks into closed pawnshops through the drainage system. They had to release him, however, since they had no proof.

Meanwhile, police arrested two people who emerged from a sewer in New York City on 24 September.

Kevin Rodriguez, 26, and his fellow Venezuelan, Samuel Reveron, 25, were apprehended near East 61st Street and Park Avenue and charged with trespassing and conspiracy, New York Post (NYP) quoted prosecutors as saying. They were arraigned in a Manhattan court on Friday.

Court papers said Rodriguez and Reveron were among six people caught by surveillance cameras hopping out of two Toyota Corolla sedans, prying open a sewer cover, and dropping into the stinky depths beneath the streets, NYP reports.

The men later emerged and hopped back into the cars and drove over the Queensboro Bridge, where license plate readers helped identify the drivers, leading to the arrest, court documents and sources said, according to NYP.

Rodriguez and Reveron, however, told police they were not spies or terrorists. Police were on alert that week to secure international leaders and foreign delegates attending the United Nations General Assembly.

“We go into the sewer and look for valuables that get stuck in the storm drains and sewers, gold, anything of value,” Reveron told a police officer after his arrest, NYP reports.

A federal law enforcement source briefed on the matter said that neither suspect appeared to have malicious intent or posed a threat to the dignitaries staying at a nearby hotel, so they were granted supervised release, according to NYP.

Professional urban explorer and former New Yorker Steve Duncan, 48, claimed there is nothing of value in the city’s sewer system as the rain runoff sweeps everything out, NYP reports.