"The Mexican" worked for Pable Escobar

There has long been a myth that Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha, better known by his alias, "The Mexican", had buried plastic drums of treasure on his various properties around the country in case of emergency.

In the end they did him little good, as the drug baron died, as did his boss Pablo Escobar, in a hail of bullets.

The myth was fed after soldiers found several such plastic drums on one of Gacha's estates in the central province of Cundinamarca in 1990.

They were filled with bundles of $100 bills and gold ingots totalling $19m.

Police 'surprised'

After complaints of noise by neighbours living beside Gacha's now-abandoned luxury mansion in Bogota, police found a group of 14 people excavating six different tunnels around the property.

The authorities were surprised to find a police colonel directing the search, along with a prison officer.

The excavations have been going on for two months and police found one of the tunnels was more than 15 metres deep, with lighting and an airflow system.

It is clear that the gang were working on specific information that a substantial fortune lay buried on the property - they had invested almost $50,000 in the search.

It is unlikely they will be the last to chase the myth of the drug lord's buried millions.