Customs discover vodka pipeline

Russian customs officers say they have discovered a mile long pipeline that was pumping vodka to Latvia.

Border cops in Buholovo, on the border, said the tunnel had been laid six feet underground by crooks to pump home-made vodka across the border. It was then sold in Latvia.

But the pipeline was discovered when local council workers started digging holes to plant trees in the area.

Yakov Kabanov, of the local border police, said: "We had our suspicions that there was someone running hooch across the border here but we could never figure out how they managed it.

"They probably would have got away with it for decades if those trees hadn't been planted as well."

Officers are questioning people in Buholovo about the pipeline, which ran between two rented houses that were empty when they were raided.