Underground Bunker Filled With Illegal Drugs, Weapons Discovered; Mother, Son Arrested

A 61-year-old woman and her 35-year-old son have been arrested after authorities discovered an underground bunker filled with illegal drugs, weapons and more at a facility in Waddell, Arizona.

Deputies with the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) arrested the owners of the property, Laura Swink and her son Steven Swink II, Tuesday, according to a news release from the sheriff's office.

The two were taken into custody after the MCSO's fraud unit served a search warrant Tuesday at the Hole in One RV, Boat & Toy Storage facility in Waddell.

The warrant was served in connection with an Arizona Public Service (APS) investigation that has been ongoing for over a year now. The owners of the property were suspected of supplying their business with stolen power from a local APS junction box, WSOC-TV reported.

When the warrant was served, deputies found a large underground bunker on the property.

In the bunker, authorities found multiple shipping containers that were put together to look like a three-level building. It contained scissor-jack elevators and tunnel ladder systems, according to the sheriff's office.

A search inside the bunker revealed several chemical containers, bags of unknown powder and cylinders of compressed gas.

Deputies also found at the scene 36 guns, a pound of methamphetamine, an ounce of cocaine, a half-ounce of psychedelic mushrooms and 200 pill capsules.

Authorities also found $240,000 worth of cash as well as some gold and silver estimated to be worth $700,000.

The deputies received assistance from the MCSO's Special Investigation Division detectives during the search.

"MCDST detectives responded, utilized proper safety equipment, completed an assessment and determined the bunker was safe as constructed. During the assessment, illegal drugs and firearms were seen in plain view," the MCSO stated.

The Swinks face charges of theft of service, criminal damage and obtaining utilities fraudulently.

As of this writing, the investigation into the case remains ongoing. No further information has been disclosed thus far.

This comes days after four individuals in Ontario, Canada, were charged in connection with robberies that took place on Sept. 26 in Leamington and two days later in Kingsville, Windsor Star reported.

The four individuals charged were identified as Bernhard Thiessen Dyck, 37, Georgian Maria Melo, 35, Shawn Andrew Borges, 37, and Krystal Jean Marentette, 40.

Dyck was charged with two counts each of robbery with a weapon, disguise with intent, three counts of possession of property obtained by crime under $5,000, resisting a peace officer and two counts of failure to comply with an undertaking.

Melo, Borges and Marentette were charged with multiple counts of possession of property obtained by crime under $5,000.

All four are set to appear in the Ontario Court of Justice at a future date.