Estonia destroys Russian underwater pipeline!

TALLINN 's Estonia and Russia may not be able to agree on the Nord Stream gas pipeline under the Baltic Sea, but they have been able to co-operate on another controversial underwater pipeline project.

Border guards from both countries have co-operated to shut down a pipe through which criminals attempted to pump neat alcohol from Russia into Estonia under the River Narva.

A spokesman for the Estonian Border Guard Board told Baltic News Service that the hose from Ivangorod to Narva was discovered on Monday after a tip-off and Estonian border guards severed the hose.

Russian customs workers in Ivangorod caught a local man red-handed with an 800-liter drum of alcohol and a hose in the back of his Ford Transit van.

According to Russian news agency Interfax, the man passed the hose to associates on the other side of the border and used an electric pump to transfer the moonshine.

On the Estonian side, the case is being handled by the Tax and Customs Board and is only in its early stages.

Hoses have been laid through the NarvaRiver before for the smuggling of illicit hooch.

A year ago, border guards at the Narva-Joesuu station together with environmental inspectors discovered 1,700 meters of plastic hose laid across the River Torvajogi, a tributary of the Narva.

Another 300 meter hose was also found at Riigikula last November and an impressive 2 km pipeline was discovered in the Narva Reservoir in 2004.