Vodka pipeline from Kazakhstan to Kyrgyzstan unearthed

Kyrgyz customs officials have shut down a pipeline that had been used to apparently pump thousands of litres of vodka from Kazakhstan to Kyrgyzstan under a river.

The 20-centimetre-thick, half-kilometre-long pipe had been laid beneath the border river Chu, the police official from the northern Kyrgyz city of Tokmok said.

It was equipped with multiple valves and lay on a track along the river's bottom, News.com.au reported.

The police officer assumed that thousands of litres of alcohol were smuggled with it, primarily vodka for months.

The pipe was discovered during a routine inspection.