Kentish Gazette 19th January 1832 Margate – Smuggling – An extraordinary discovery has been made here in the last week by officers of this Custom-house, which shows the persevering and enterprising spirit of the smugglers.  The officers went to search a house in the occupation of a man of the name of Cook, at the back of Zion-place, near the Fort, in Margate, and discovered in a room below a secret entrance, just large enough to admit a man crawling upon his knees.  The officers proceeded downwards upon an inclined plane towards the sea shore, to the distance of about 200 yards, passing under several hoses, at a depth of many feet below the surface of the ground, until they reached the lower entrance, which opens on the north west side of the Clifton Baths.  The mouth of the entrance was boarded over and covered with chalk and earth, rammed down in such a manner as completely to conceal it.  There were found, in the interior of the cliff, several trucks on wheels, and implements for the conveying of smuggled goods through the tunnel to Cook’s house.  The work, which it is calculated must have cost in labour from 100l. to 200l., was just finished, and is reported to have been paid for by a great silk-mercer and riband-seller in London.  It is fortunate for the revenue as well as for the silk-trade that such a discovery has been made, as the whole plan of operation was so well projected, that whilst the hide remained known only to the smugglers, they might at any time, in dark nights, in the short space of an hour, have smuggled many thousand pounds’ worth of property, and carried it off in safety.  It is whispered amongst the sailors on the pier, that if the officers had not been a little too eager in their pursuit, they might within a week, when the dark nights come on again, have made an immense seizure; but now that they have entirely defeated their own object, because not a vestige of any contraband article was yet to be found upon the premises.  This is the second subterraneous tunnel which has been dug under the same property within two years, and the second time the officers being defeated by their eagerness to grasp so large a prize.  It is justice to the lease of this singularly constructed property to say, that not the least suspicion is entertained but the revenue officers of any connivance on his part, he having given them duplicate keys of the subterraneous excavations and baths during the winter months, when the property lies unoccupied, and cautioned them that unless some of the revenue officers were stationed on the premises throughout the night, it was impossible to prevent smuggling.