Search for Nazi Gold Train Gets Green Light

One big catch: No digging allowed
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 9, 2015 5:23 AM CST
Search for Nazi Gold Train Gets Green Light
A view of a tunnel and shelter under Ksiaz Castle in Walbrzych, Poland.   (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Investigators have finally been allowed to commence the hunt for a Nazi gold train thought to be buried near the Polish city of Walbrzych—but they're not allowed to dig. Instead, experts will be using measuring equipment and detectors to try to get answers from the embankment that some believe hides the fabled train, the Independent reports. The experts, including a team from Krakow's Mining Academy, "are not allowed to touch the ground," a city spokesman tells AFP. "They won't be able to dig, or drill, or introduce cameras into the ground. They're only allowed to perform a non-invasive search." The Polish military has spent weeks clearing the area and checking for toxins or booby traps, and the new hunt was expected to start this week.

The two men who claim to have used radar to detect the train and its rumored cargo of hundreds of tons of gold and gems will be joining the search and want 10% of the treasure if it's found. Whether the train and its fabulous cargo exist or not, the international attention the search has attracted has been a bonanza for Walbrzych, a coal-mining town with high unemployment. "I'm no Indiana Jones, but my colleagues in the rest of Poland now call me the gold governor," the district governor tells the Guardian. "Life is tough. The young people are leaving to work abroad. But the gold train has brought a tourism boom." (An explorer says he has found a large underground complex near the train's reported resting place.)

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