A cautionary tale.. How to get busted 101.

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Illusion
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A cautionary tale.. How to get busted 101.

Post by Illusion » Tue Feb 07, 2012 5:09 am

I give you a cautionary tale to those of you who reach a level where they think rules no longer apply..

There once was a group of urban explorers, who in 2008 thought drains were the rage. Their explorations generally brought about some brillaint pictures, and their in depth research and knowledge of the drains and rivers they explored was second to none. Soon they felt as though they had done all that the victorians had to offer below London..

That was until they realised the rewards of abandoned tube stations; although these were riskier by an exponential amount - they were sites were often accessible from poorly secured street-level buildings, or improperly maintained ventilation shafts and emergency access points. The consequences of being found in an abandoned tube station were high, but it balanced with the potential rewards that were on offer.

Over the next 4 years the sites they targeted, and they largely succeeded too, grew to be some of the best kept secrets of London - and some of the supposedly most secure.

You'd think this group was pretty shit hot, huh? Well, it's not my style to cast aspersions and judgements on others - and this group were certainly top of their game.. but this was to be their downfall. Their website is now littered with sentiments such as..
Although my adventures into London’s sprawling underground network are certainly over, i do still have fond memories and tales of previous exploits that have yet to be told. For a while I’ve been debating the pros and cons of publishing these stories, part of me wants to separate myself from them as far as humanly possible, while the other reminds me well, whats done is done.
Its been a while since I last updated the site, personal and legal issues have prevented this, a mentally and physically enforced writers block.
It had been almost four months since i last crept through or climbed the unknown. The fear of legal repercussion grounding me, causing my inaction, the suffering forever engraved in my mind. It was something that i could not, and still have not shaken. For me, the adventures in London were over, my trump card used, as were my excuses.
With an attitude that seemed to neglect the option of calling an exploration off unless only the most extreme of circumstances arose; it's perhaps rather telling that when entering this groups name into google one of the suggested queries is "<group> arrested". A whole catalogue of arrests is what you'd be led to believe if you see the results.. What went wrong?
For four days, the crew went back again and again, hitting the system hard right in front of the cameras, running longer down the lines to more stations, occasionally setting of alarms and then scurrying out of the system before anybody official arrived. [...] Finally on the 5th night, luck broke and *****, ***** and ***** were approached by police and a Post Office employee on the street as they were exiting the system who told them they “had been watching them run around in here for days now on CCTV”:

After enduring a tense period on the street waiting for a period of inactivity both within the large building, the three of us swiftly made our way to our access point at Paddington, pleased with ourselves for such a well executed entry having continually checked for unwanted attention and seeing nobody, we assumed we were safely in.

“Right lads, stay where you are. The police are on their way. You’re fucked”. Postman Pat was bellowing down the shaft at us. In a second we froze, before hastily dropping down ladders and finding a bolted door, a ladder that had previously assisted access to other parties now nowhere to be seen.

The door seemed impenetrable, nothing there to assist the 20ft climb. The frame being metal it flexed enough to squeeze a hand through and unbolt the door. We ran to the tunnels. Entering the pitch black we stopped for a second to take stock, aware that going down the wrong tunnels could take us away from our intended destination where we had a car parked.

We trod quickly and carefully through to our exit station with no time to hang around and take pictures, just an opportunity to exit through a door onto the street and away from the now screaming alarm (Which had been switched off on previous visits, but was now fully armed), away from the **** **** that would no doubt be crawling with police soon.

Back at the car, we packed our kit away and headed back to collect our other vehicle. A Police van flew past, sirens blazing, blue lights on. We breathed a sigh of relief. We could have been fucked. Postman Pat could have been right.

By our access point was 3 police cars. We collected the other car and departed, having arranged to meet **** at a nearby station for some other activities in the area.

An hour or so later, the city was crawling. Police cars bolted up and down side streets, combing the area for those they’d assumedly seen on CCTV. We met with ***** and ***** too, and congregated on a non-descript street to arrange ourselves.

Sirens blazed. A van buzzed down the street. The siren stopped. The van stopped. The questions started. Postman Pat and Mrs Goggins arrived. I’ve seen him on CCTV. And him. And him. Arrest them all, we’ve got all of them.

It was *****'s smooth talking to the police that ultimately saved us a night in the cells – by the end Postman Pat and Mrs Goggins were annoying the police more than we were and we were told to leave and not come back, having been searched.
Incidents like these were not uncommon; with one exploration involve approaching an active tube station from one direction - and having to run through it during the middle of the night to get in a tunnel going in the opposite direction! As impressive as their feats were, in the end their brazen antics got them attention that they could've done without, and one morning their worlds came falling down when they were busted; and by the sounds of it - by a 6AM knock on the door.

These were not amatuers, nor were they idiots - they were some of the best urban explorers the UK had to offer; and their antics had spanned throughout Western Europe, America and even parts of Australia. They took Urban Exploration to a new extreme, and held no fear regarding who they may irritate in the process - and for that they deserve respect and admiration. However, ultimately the balance of risk and reward had become weighted towards risk, and the consequences are something which are only deserving of pity.

This is a lesson to all concerned: No matter what you do or how long you've been doing it - you're either good, or you're going to get good if you stick at it. When you finally reach that stage where you think you're shit hot - remember you're the same guy who used to bottle out and struggle at the smallest of obstacles. That guy who you've trained and pushed down into the most repressed part of your brain is a good guy - and one who may just stop you from fucking up. It's good to leave your comfort zone - but don't extend your comfort zone; some areas are not meant to be comfortable. No matter how good you think you are, you're not infallible.
"I'm not worried about this because I am too strong, too good, too intelligent, but I want to say to the others 'don't follow the stupid'."

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Re: A cautionary tale.. How to get busted 101.

Post by Illusion » Tue Feb 07, 2012 7:16 am

Another example:
Getting caught was the result of bad luck, but also poor decisions, the kind that are easy to make after doing this for years without ever having faced any serious consequences. You begin to feel less nervous about doing things over time, like opening up manhole covers while other people are nearby. You start to forget about the little things that can often lead to consequences.
Source

I can't vouch for how good this guy is, but it's just another story of getting caught due to complacency. Whilst you may not be in similar situations, the moral is the same none the less.
"I'm not worried about this because I am too strong, too good, too intelligent, but I want to say to the others 'don't follow the stupid'."

Urgon
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Re: A cautionary tale.. How to get busted 101.

Post by Urgon » Thu Feb 09, 2012 10:47 am

AVE...

I have one question: if they knew they were going to the places with security systems and alarms, why they didn't wore any masks? Being caught on CCTV camera or seen by someone is less dangerous when you can't be recognized. When shit hits the fan, one just drops mask and clothes in which he was seen, and then just leaves the area...

If you are going to break some laws, always assume that someone or something might see you. Not only because police or security can be called to investigate, but also because later they can use descriptions and recordings to identify you. Those guys from your tale, Moddy, either forgot about this or didn't gave a damn about being seen. They deserved, what happened to them...
"We sleep peaceably in our beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on our behalf."

Airship pirate...

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Re: A cautionary tale.. How to get busted 101.

Post by Celtisch » Sat Feb 18, 2012 10:35 am

Sorry for the necro here, but I feel that it is worth it.

Urgon, one of them did wear a bandanna over his face, at least.
I know this because I looked in to it more. These guys have some pretty epic pictures, honestly.
http://www.placehacking.co.uk/2011/04/2 ... mail-rail/

Image

Image

Image

Though apparently their site was down after this happened, it is up now: http://www.silentuk.com/

It seems like railroads are common places to explore. I used to live near one (above ground rail system) in town and walked down them, found cool spots, buildings, sights, etc. :D
"The problem with quotes found on the internet is that they're not always accurate."
- Abraham Lincoln

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Re: A cautionary tale.. How to get busted 101.

Post by Illusion » Sat Feb 18, 2012 11:41 am

Well, as much as it pains me to say - what with speaking to these guys in the past, and having mutual acquaintances, Urgon has one point about the CCTV and covering faces. This would probably have avoided the confrontation with police at street-level after the exfiltration.

Furthermore, having one guy covering his face is pointless if the others dont, and having seen the photos, it's clear that most of them did not. This effectively rendered the one guy who decided to cover his face as wasting his time. There's an argument for not covering the faces though, primarily so in the worst case scenario and they're caught - it looks less threatening. Which isn't necessarily as stupid as it may sound.

The secondary point is, these kinds of transport systems aren't common to explore here. They have specific laws covering any transportation infrastructe, and even their own police force (The British Transport Police). This is especially relevant when you consider that they're exploring live lines underground. Whilst the stations are often "switched off", with the exception of the example mentioned above, these were all in-use active lines; on a network which is constantly on the lookout for the next 7/7 terror attack. The example above however, the mail rail system, despite the lines not being in use - they were passing under live mail sorting depots; and IIRC, passing through a tunnel system which quite possibly provides access to tunnels linking up governmental buildings.

I don't want to be too harsh on them, as they are genuinely very good at what they do - but I do think they let their guard slip quite heavily. If you view some of the older explorations, ermm - off the top of my head I think their "Kentish Town South Underground Station" one is a particularly good example for this - they discuss how nerve-racking it was carrying out a tube station exploration. Over time these feelings seemed to subside, and like anyone, they pushed their boundaries inch by inch - that's human nature. However, towards they just appeared very careless. I guess that is the main conclusion worth drawing here.
"I'm not worried about this because I am too strong, too good, too intelligent, but I want to say to the others 'don't follow the stupid'."

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Re: A cautionary tale.. How to get busted 101.

Post by Celtisch » Sat Feb 18, 2012 11:53 am

Yeah, that's what I don't understand. Why wouldn't all of them cover their faces? You would think since one of them did that they might follow in his footsteps, or that he would at least try to convince them to put some kind of cover on their face... But, even with that bandana you can see most of his face, his eyes, hair, etc. way too easily.

That was another thing that raised a red flag with me, with them intentionally going to the point where they knew they were tripping some sort of security system, yet they kept going back... Then again, I guess that's the whole moral of this story. You are not invincible or infallible, even after mastering such a trade. :wink:
"The problem with quotes found on the internet is that they're not always accurate."
- Abraham Lincoln

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Re: A cautionary tale.. How to get busted 101.

Post by Urgon » Thu Feb 23, 2012 9:25 pm

AVE...

I believe that they were made of stupid. They knew, that the area is secured and monitored, yet they failed to stick to basic things like not showing their faces and avoiding detection at all costs. There was even a training game in Access All Areas for trying to avoid detection. Experienced explorers that forget about basic security measures - moronic. This is good tale, because it shows that people can do stupid things and be careless. In Night Ops and Black Ops it's even more important...

I have one advice for everyone: cover your face during an op with something that changes the shape and size of it. Software can measure characteristic points of face and head to identify people...
"We sleep peaceably in our beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on our behalf."

Airship pirate...

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Re: A cautionary tale.. How to get busted 101.

Post by Epic » Tue Feb 28, 2012 2:43 am

Lesson learned. nice story.

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Re: A cautionary tale.. How to get busted 101.

Post by Illusion » Fri Jul 19, 2013 5:34 pm

May have a few updates on this soon... :?
"I'm not worried about this because I am too strong, too good, too intelligent, but I want to say to the others 'don't follow the stupid'."

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