In a ruse so hackneyed it almost belongs within the story arch of a Batman title, Australian police have uncovered a haul of illicit substances smuggled into the country hidden within the folds of comic books. The police raid, which took place earlier in the week, is said to have put an end to the Australian arm of an international drug smuggling syndicate.
Queensland Police Service have confirmed Operation Romeo Vigilant sprang into action, raiding 9 properties located throughout Burleigh Heads, Burleigh Waters, Robina, Currumbin Waters, Austinville and Varsity Lakes. The raids there the result of a 6-month investigation by detectives. Because of the raids, 10 people were arrested including a 49-year-old male, believed to be the ringleader, and the villain who conceived the idea of smuggling the illicit drugs into Australia using comic books, which involved sending the hidden contraband to Australia from the US via mail and courier services.
40 charges have been laid, including trafficking and supplying dangerous drugs and money laundering.
In this strange instance of life imitating art, police have seized 3kg of Ice, cannabis and other illicit paraphernalia. It’s believed the group has smuggled in $1 million worth of Ice from the United States.
Eagle-eyed DC fans were quick to spot that one of the titles used to smuggle in the drugs was Unjustice: Gods Among Us, part of a successful line of titles from Australian comic book writer, Tom Taylor. It’s believed that the group hollowed out the comics before stashing the drugs inside.
Fans were also quick to joke that in the ongoing battle between DC and Marvel, the former is now having to resort to underhanded techniques to boost sales. Obviously, that’s not the case.
Jokes aside, the raid was a success in the sense it removed around 300,000 hits of Ice from the streets of Queensland, as reported by Detective Inspector Brendan Smith. Inspector Smith added, “”We think it is coming from southern California, and as you’ll appreciate, that is very close to the international borders of Mexico and such.”
