Police Promise Crackdown on Northern Ravenport Underground Tunnels
Police have not released the full details of everything discovered inside the tunnels, but reports of so-called "torture parties" have sparked outrage among residents.
The underground network has also become a source of fear for parents who say their children were allegedly recruited into cults operating beneath the city.
Some families say they have spent weeks desperately trying to locate their children and want them returned home immediately.
"We just want our kids back," one parent said. "Whatever they were told down there, whatever they were involved in, they're still our children."
Police say they are investigating reports of recruitment and other criminal activity while working to identify the groups operating throughout the tunnels.
Officials have promised that authorities will deal with the situation by the end of this week, although they have not disclosed exactly how the operation will be conducted.
Meanwhile, anger among citizens has reached extraordinary levels.
Some residents say they no longer believe ordinary arrests are enough.
A number of angry citizens have openly demanded that suspected criminals be hanged, with some reportedly gathering outside police facilities and calling for the harshest possible punishment.
The extreme reaction has itself alarmed authorities.
Police officials say they understand the anger of families whose children may have been caught up in the underground groups, but warned residents against taking justice into their own hands.
For investigators, the situation has become a complicated mixture of criminal activity, missing young people, underground cults and an increasingly furious public.
One police official described the atmosphere as "insane."
The tunnels, once largely forgotten beneath Northern Ravenport, have suddenly become one of the city's biggest sources of fear.
And for the families waiting outside them, the police operation cannot come soon enough.
They aren't asking for explanations.
They're asking for their children back.
