True Crime and News of the Weird from around the Globe

BUM-bling Burglars Busted After Butt-Dialing Police Mid-Robbery

By HardBoiledNews Staff

STOKE-ON-TRENT, United Kingdom — This gives whole new meaning to the phrase BUM-bling burglars.

A pair of extremely unlucky thieves had the bad fortune of accidentally butt-dialing police right as they were in the middle of burglarizing a home in England.

An operator reported the call to police and stayed on the line while authorities rushed to the scene.

“Whilst committing a burglary one of the bungling burglars has accidentally sat on his phone & dialled 999,” Staffordshire Police Chief Inspector John Owen posted on Twitter. “We received a call detailing all of their antics up to the point of hearing our patrols arrive to arrest them.”  

Owen then mocked the pair with a GIF from the film “Home Alone,” which showed one of the film’s hapless burglars sticking his head through a doggy door.

Police arrested two men, aged 49 and 42, in connection with the incident.

Indian Hospital Tragedy Leaves 10 Infants Dead in Fire

By HardBoiledNews Staff

BHANDARA, India — A fire tore through the intensive care unit of a government-run hospital in western India tragically leaving 10 infants dead, authorities said.

Staff rescued seven of the newborn infants at the Bhandara district hospital but were forced back before they could get to the 10 others, police said.

A preliminary investigation suggested the fire was caused by an electrical short-circuit, police said.

The Press Trust of India news agency said the infants were between a few days to three months old.

The fire brigade stopped the blaze from spreading to other parts of the hospital and other patients were moved to safety.

“Heart-wrenching tragedy in Bhandara, Maharashtra, where we have lost precious young lives,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Twitter. Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi called the deaths “extremely tragic”.

Bhandara is about 625 miles south of New Delhi.

Conspiracy Theorists Mistake Guitar Pedal Design for Proof of ‘5G Covid-19 Microchip’

By HardBoiledNews Staff

The only thing getting injected into anyone’s veins here is the ability to shred!

Guitarists have been getting an amped-up laugh after spotting a diagram being passed around online that purports to be for a microchip being secretly injected into people with the Covid-19 vaccine that is actually the schematic for the Boss Metal Zone guitar pedal.

A staple of hair metal bands since the early 1990s, its ability to make guitars scream has caught the attention of conspiracy theorists in Italy who claim its for a 5G chip secretly being implanted into people to track their motions, Guitar World magazine reported.

“It features a section labelled “5G frequency” – clearly the source of many a theorist’s eureka moment – as well as terms guitarists will find familiar: “MT-2 Gain”, “Footswitch” among the most recognizable,” the magazine reported.

Mario Fusco, an engineer at Redhat Inc. who spotted the dubious design, quipped: “In reality it is the electric circuit of a guitar pedal and I believe that putting it in the covid vaccine has been an excellent idea.”

Others online similarly riffed on the joke.

“Excellent. Reassured to know that 5G relies on op-amps and some 1n4148 diodes. Proper old school. None of that digital and microprocessor nonsense. I’ll take one in each arm,” posted one user.

Another replied, “This is a Boss MT-2 Metal Zone, and trust me, that ain’t curing anybody of anything, except maybe good tone.”

Canada Cabbie Drives Maskless Passenger Straight to Jail

By HardBoiledNews Staff

VICTORIA, Canada — He breathed on the wrong cabbie. 

A taxi driver whose drunken New Year’s Day passenger refused to wear a mask, drove straight to a police station where the man was arrested and hit with a whopping fine.

Police in Victoria, British Columbia say the driver called 911 just after 1 a.m. to report that his passenger was refusing to wear a mask and was touching the driver’s face and “belligerently” refusing requests to adhere to Covid-19 guidelinest, police said.

When the cabbie pulled into the Victoria Police Department’s headquarters, officers were waiting. The passenger then refused to leave the vehicle and was removed by force and taken into custody, according to the Powell River Peak.

The man was fined $690 in total for failing to wear a facial covering, abusive or belligerent behaviour, and failing to comply with the direction of an officer. He was also ticketed for being intoxicated in a public place and was jailed until he sobered up.

Ship Seeking Better Cell Signal Runs Aground in Tropical Paradise, Causing Oil Spill

By HardBoiledNews Staff

MAURITIUS — A Japanese cargo ship that caused an ecological disaster in a tropical paradise, ran aground and created an oil spill because its crew steered closer to land to get better cell phone signal, its owner said. 

The MV Wakashio ran aground on July 25 and began leaking oil on Aug. 6, eventually spilling 1,000 tons of fuel oil into the pristine waters around the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius. Four sailors were later killed when a tugboat sank during efforts to clean up the spill.

Japan’s Nagashiki Shipping, which owns the ship, a 1000-foot bulk carrier used for transporting iron ore, said the crew changed direction to sail close enough to Mauritius to get cell phone coverage.

The company blamed the disaster on a lack of safety awareness by the crew and a failure to follow rules. The firm promised better training and oversight.

“There was a lack of awareness of the dangers of navigating close to the coast … and insufficient implementation of regulations that must be observed in order to safely execute voyages,” the company said.

The company says it will ban private use of cell phones during working hours on bridges and install high-speed communications systems on all its ships, as well as beef up training.

The clean-up, which includes returning about 20 miles of mangrove coastline to its former state, will likely be mostly completed by January, Nagashiki said last month.

Food Fight: British Lifer Stabs Fellow Prison Inmate With Screwdriver For Tossing His Meal

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Steven Branscombe was hangry after a fellow inmate tossed his leftovers

FULL SUTTON, United Kingdom — A felon serving life for stabbing a chef in front of a group of terrified school kids and their moms, has been convicted of stabbing another inmate with a screwdriver for throwing away his food. 

Steven Branscombe, 51, waited until he and the victim were in a workshop at Full Sutton prison in Yorkshire before, going ape withe a screwdriver because the man had earlier tossed some of his uneaten chow in the trash. 

Authorities say an “ill feeling” had developed between the prisoners, according to Hull Live.

Both were reportedly assembling bicycles to be gifted to charity when suddenly Branscombe came up from behind the other unidentified inmate and jabbed him in the neck multiple times. The victim was left with a half-centimeter gash in his neck. 

Branscombe was serving a life sentence for slaying 42-year-old chef, Marc Clarke back on Jan. 27, 2012, after similarly harboring a long-simmering grudge. 

In that case, Branscombe, a father of two, claimed to have “snapped” over a beef with the chef over the questionable quality of cocaine Clarke allegedly had sold him a decade before. 

As they were driving by a school at around 3 p.m., Branscombe weaved his Peugeot in front of Clarke’s Mercedes, forcing him to a halt. 

Branscombe then grabbed his 6-inch kitchen knife he kept in the car and stabbed Clarke twice before gasping school children and their carpooling parents. 

At the conclusion of his trial at Liverpool Crown Court, Branscombe claimed he went into a fit of rage only momentarily. “I lost it for a split second. I just lost control of myself. I can’t explain my reasons for my actions, I don’t know why I did it.”

Judge Clement Goldstone then warned Branscombe to be leery of his temper and potential foes. 

“You are a man quite capable of making other enemies,” he said. 

$60 Million Worth of iPhones Looted During Riot at Indian Factory

By HardBoiledNews Staff

BANGALORE, India — Nearly $60 million worth of iPhones were looted during a workers riot at an Indian factory manufacturing the smartphones over a long-simmering pay dispute.

The unrest was triggered after employees complained that they had been stiffed out of several months’ pay by a subcontractor that operated the factory in the southern state of Karnataka. More than 15,000 employees work at the facility, the vast majority are employed by subcontractors, the Times of India reported.

Nearly 100 arrests have so far been made, authorities said.

The workers rioted Saturday at Wistron Infocomm Manufacturing’s facility on the outskirts of Bangalore, India’s IT hub. Videos of the violence showed glass panels smashed with rods and cars flipped on their side.

Security cameras, fans and lights were torn down, while a car was set on fire, footage shared on social media showed.

A local trade union leader alleged that there was “brutal exploitation” of factory workers in sweatshop conditions at the iPhone manufacturing plant, with many not having been paid for four months and being forced to work extra shifts.

“The state government has allowed the company to flout the basic rights,” Satyanand, who uses one name, told The Hindu newspaper.

Wistron, which is headquartered in Taiwan said,  “the incident was caused by people of unknown identities from outside who intruded into and damaged its facility with unclear intentions”.

The company also “pledged to follow local labor laws and other related regulations” to resume operations as soon as possible.

Tubby Terrorist Cut Loose Early from US Prison Due to COVID-19 Risk

By HardBoiledNews Staff

NEW YORK — An obese al-Qaeda terrorist convicted for the 1998 US embassy bombings in Africa was sprung from prison early after a judge agreed his weight and age put him at heightened risk to die from coronavirus behind bars.

Adel Abdel Bary, 60, had spent 21 years in a New Jersey lockup for his role in the 1998 bombings that killed 224 people, but was let loose in early October, several weeks before his sentence was due to end..

“Defendant’s obesity and somewhat advanced age make COVID-19 significantly more risky to him than to the average person,” US District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan wrote in granting the release.

Bary had been set to be freed on Oct. 28, but his attorneys asked that he be let out sooner, citing their ­client’s age, girth and asthma.

“Mr. Bary’s continued incarceration now significantly increases his risk of infection, which could wreak disastrous health outcomes,” his lawyer wrote to the judge.

While prosecutors didn’t agree that Bary’s age made him more at risk to catch COVID-19, they did concede his 230-pound bulk did.

“The defendant’s obesity is an extraordinary and compelling reason that could justify a reduction of his sentence in light of the current pandemic,” they wrote.

Bary was set free on Oct. 9 and from an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility on Wednesday and handed over to UK officials where he had received asylum years before his terrorism conviction.

He had been arrested in the UK in 1999 but fought extradition to the US and didn’t stand trial until 2012. He had been sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2015 but received credit for the years he spent behind bars in Britain.

Officials couldn’t send him back to his native Egypt after his release because he could be at risk of death or torture, the Sun reported.

“His return remains a huge headache for the [UK] home secretary” a source told the Sun.“She is intent on ridding the country of threats, but here’s a notorious terrorist dumped right on her doorstep.”

Brazilian ‘Pregnant’ Woman Busted Smuggling Coke in Fake Baby Bump

By HardBoiledNews Staff

GUARA, Brazil — She gave birth to a criminal charge.

A Brazilian woman pretending to be pregnant was caught smuggling a baby-sized block of cocaine concealed inside a watermelon shell tucked under her shirt. 

The São Paulo woman had boarded a bus bound for Rio De Janeiro while pretending to be pregnant, but was searched after authorities received a tipoff about a narcotics smuggling ring, according to the São Paulo police.

A search revealed that the woman’s so-called “baby bump” was actually a watermelon harboring four bricks of cocaine paste that weighed around 4.5 pounds total.

The woman confessed that she had been paid $100 to take the coke from Paraguay to Rio.

São Paulo police described the ploy as having “creativity without limit.” The woman has been charged with drug smuggling.

Russian Police Bust ‘Volga Maniac’ Serial Killer Behind at Least 26 Slayings

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Radik Tagirov

KAZAN, Russia — Russian investigators have arrested a long-wanted serial killer known as the “Volga maniac,” who stands accused of murdering at least 26 elderly women in their homes.

The suspect, identified as 38-year-old Radik Tagirov, was arrested in the city of Kazan in southwestern Russia as the result of a years-long investigation into dozens of murders in 2011 and 2012 that police have long believed had been committed by a single person.

The serial killer was dubbed the “Volga maniac” because many of the slayings were committed in 12 cities situated along the Volga River, Europe’s longest waterway.

Tagirov had previously been convicted in 2009 for theft and was connected to the killings through DNA evidence and shoe prints found at some of the crime scenes, cops said.

Most of the victims were elderly women, between 75- and 90-years-old, who lived alone. Investigators said that the suspect posed as a social services or utilities worker to enter the apartments.

Once inside, police say Tagirov strangled the women with his hands or nearby objects, and would often take valuables and money from their homes. Investigators have suggested that the total number of victims could be as high as 32, which would make Tagirov one of the most prolific serial killers in modern Russia.

In a video released by the police online, a handcuffed Tagirov admits he committed murders but he didn’t specify how many. When asked by the police why all his victims were elderly women and why he decided to kill them instead of just robbing them, he said he had no explanation.

“All that happened spontaneously. I wanted to eat. I lived partly on the street,” he said when answering what motivated him to commit his first murder. He said he couldn’t recall when exactly it took place.

Tagirov said that he chose to strangle the women as he thought it was “quiet, fast” and “painless for them.” 

The suspect reportedly committed his first murder back in 2011 in Kazan. Within months that year several more women were found in the city. One woman survived, but was blind so was unable to describe the attacker.

Airline Investigating Stewardess Selling In-Flight Sex

By HardBoiledNews Staff

LONDON — She wants to make it easy to join the mile high club.

A British Airways stewardess has been promising to cause severe turbulence with passengers by advertising hot-to-trot dalliances for cash while in the air.

The attendant has been advertising her wares online with risque photos of herself in her flight attendant uniform, the Sun reported.

In some of the photos, the stewardess is seen hitching up her skirt in the galley kitchen and in another she wears just tights under her BA uniform, with the caption: “No panties on Sundays”.

She says she charges around $35 for a pair of her underwear, but the fee rises for one-to-one services.

“You will need to pay a securing fee of £50  ($66) to meet. Prices vary depending on the requested meet — no negotiating,” she posted

The airline says it is investigating.

Contacted by the Sun the stewardess says she is a member of BA’s Heathrow-based crew.

She says she is available wherever she lands, but can even service passengers onboard.

“If you ever want adult entertainment on-board, all you have to do is give me a sum of money and you’ll be treated to a whole different experience of your choice.”

One crew member told the Sun the woman must be desperate due to Covid-related cuts.

“This highlights a serious point in that many staff can’t afford to live on reduced wages since the cutbacks, and she is raising funds in her own time.

A spokesman for the airlines told the Sun: “We expect the highest standard of behavior from all of our colleagues at all times, and we are investigating the claims.

Boy, 1, Killed After Cops Open Fire on Alleged Kidnapper

By HardBoiledNews Staff

KAWARTHA LAKES, Canada — A 1-year-old child who had been abducted by his old man in Canada, was fatally shot as cops opened fire on the father’s vehicle after he ran down and seriously injured an officer.

Investigators have not yet confirmed if police gunfire killed the boy.

“It’s too early for us to know why officers fired at the vehicle, and it’s too early for us to know exactly what transpired,” said Monica Hudon, a spokeswoman for the province’s police watchdog.

Early on Thursday morning, officers in the community of Kawartha Lakes in Ontario were alerted to a domestic dispute involving a firearm and the suspected abduction of the 1-year-old by his father.

Police soon located the father’s vehicle along a rural country road. After police attempted to stop him, the truck collided with a police car and another vehicle. An officer who was standing near the police car was struck by the truck and injured.

Three officers then fired their guns towards the vehicle, according to the Special Investigations Unit, an agency that investigates when police are involved in the death or injury of civilians. The child was in the back seat of the pickup truck.

“Inside the pickup truck was a one-year-old boy,” the SIU said in a statement. “He had sustained a gunshot wound and was pronounced deceased at the scene.”

The 33-year-old father was struck by police gunfire and brought to a hospital “in grave condition”. The officer who was hit by the truck is recovering at a Toronto hospital.

A later SIU statement said investigators had seized the guns from each of the three officers involved plus a fourth weapon found inside the vehicle of the abductor.

Indonesian Child Rapist Begs for Mercy During Brutal Public Flogging

By HardBoiledNews Staff

IDI RAYEUK, Indonesia — A 19-year-old child rapist collapsed and begged for mercy after being publicly flogged nearly 150 times in a punishment under Islamic law.

The man grimaced and cried out in agony as a masked sharia officer whipped his back with a rattan stick in the town of Idi Rayeuk in Indonesia’s conservative Islamic region of East Aceh.

At one point the man pleaded for the beating to be stopped and he was briefly treated by doctors before the punishment resumed.

Public flogging is a common and controversial penalty for violating Islamic law in the region.

The man was arrested earlier this year on charges he molested and raped the victim, whose age was not revealed.

He was sentenced to 146 lashes, a particularly high number reserved for the most serious crimes.

“The maximum sentence is meant to be a deterrent,” said Ivan Nanjjar Alavi, an official from the East Aceh prosecutor’s office, according to Agence France-Presse.

Aceh, on the western tip of Sumatra, is the only region in Muslim-majority Indonesia to impose Islamic law under an autonomy deal with the central government that ended a long-running separatist insurgency.

On the same day, authorities whipped a 40-year-old and a 21-year-old man 100 times each for having sex with underage partners.

Aceh’s public whippings, widely criticized by rights groups, can attract hundreds of spectators, but crowds have dwindled in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.

The province allows whipping for a range of charges – including gambling, adultery, drinking alcohol, and having gay or premarital sex.

Caning has wide support among Aceh’s mostly Muslim population. Aceh officials insist caning deters crime, with patrols often scouring public places and establishments – or acting on tip-offs – to monitor behavior.

The province, home to about 5 million people, once mulled beheading for serious crimes, but the central government ruled it out.

In January, the province began hiring its first female floggers to carry out the punishment for women offenders.

Jail-Cell Killer of Britain’s ‘Worst Pedophile’ Convicted of Murder

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Richard Huckle had been serving 22 life sentences for child rape

HULL, United Kingdom — An inmate has been convicted of murdering “Britain’s worst pedophile” in a prison cell attack he called “poetic justice” for the children the victim had abused.

Paul Fitzgerald, 30, said he wanted Richard Huckle to feel what his victims had felt, so he  strangled him with electrical wire, inserted a sharpened pen into his brain and stuck a kitchen utensil into his anus and lower bowel.

Jurors at Hull Crown Court took just an hour to convict Fitzgerald of murder after a four-day trial.

Prosecutors said the October 2019 attack was designed to “humiliate and degrade” Huckle, who had been serving 22 life sentences for assaulting dozens of children while working as a photographer and Christian teacher in Malaysia.

Prosecutors acknowledged that Huckle was a “predatory paedophile” who was “notorious in the press.” They said Fitzgerald told doctors he had sexually assaulted Huckle, even though he did not find him sexually attractive.

“He felt that it was poetic justice and he wanted Richard Huckle to feel what all those children had felt,” prosecutor Alistair MacDonald told the court. 

“The insertion of an object into his anus, and possibly into his brain as well, was, say the prosecution, a form of punishment associated with the offending which had led Mr Huckle to prison.”

The court heard that Fitzgerald took a number of objects to Huckle’s cell  – including weapons fashioned by the defendant, such as a melted toothbrush with a screw inserted, and items used as a ligature and bindings for the victim’s hands and feet.

Mr MacDonald said: “This was a carefully planned and executed attack, in the course of which Mr Huckle had been subjected to a prolonged attack also designed to humiliate and degrade him.”

He said Fitzgerald told staff after the attack at the East Yorkshire prison that he “enjoyed” it and would have gone on to kill other inmates but he was “having too much fun”.

He also said he had “murdered Mr Huckle in cold blood” and would like to have cooked bits of his body.

Fitzgerald denied murder and said his medical conditions – including mixed personality disorder, psychopathy and gender identity disorder – had impaired his ability to exercise self-control.

The court heard on Monday that the defendant said he had “constant ruminations” in his mind about torture, rape and murder, and said: “My problem is I just don’t have the ability to control myself.

“I don’t have the ability to look at people and see them as human beings. I don’t value them, I don’t care about them.

“I don’t feel bad about hurting people, I don’t have the capacity to feel remorse.”

Man Awaiting Trial in Teen Girlfriend’s Slaying is Killed in Prison Beating

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Zlatko Sikorsky (r) is accused of killing Larissa Beilby (l) whose body was found in a barrel

BRISBANE, Australia — A man awaiting trial in Australia for the brutal torture and slaying of his teen girlfriend has been killed in a prison beating, authorities said.

Zlatko Sikorsky, 37, was taken to a Brisbane hospital in critical condition last Tuesday after getting his head bashed during a brawl with another inmate. He spent several days on life support before being declared dead Thursday morning, News.com.au reported.

Sikorsky had been locked up on charges he brutally beat 16-year-old Larissa Beilby in June 2018 — before stuffing her body in a barrel and dumping it in the back of an abandoned truck.

The teen’s dad had reported her missing on June 22, and her body wasn’t found until days later.  She sustained blunt force trauma to her head, neck and limbs before she died. She may have asphyxiated, however a cause of death was not determined due to her body’s decomposition. 

Prosecutors said Sikorsky allegedly refused to take the girl to a hospital after he pummeled her.

The vicious brute was set to stand trial at a later date on charges of murder, torture, deprivation of liberty and interfering with a corpse.

Witnesses said they heard screams coming from Sikorsky’s car the day Beilby was killed.

A witness in Skiorsky’s committal hearing described him as “intimidating”, and that she had told the man he shouldn’t be in contact with the teenager, as he was more than 20 years older than her, reported the Courier Mail.

The same witness told the hearing she had smoked methamphetamine with both Sikorsky and Beilby prior to her death, and that he was “high 24-7”.

The court also heard that Sikorsky “always” carried a gun with him, and had told friends he was keeping drugs and money in the barrel where Beilby’s body was later found.

The court heard the teenager had run away from home, was staying in a safe house and “doing drugs with older friends” in the weeks before her death.

The Queensland Police Service said it would be investigating Sikorsky’s death.

New Italian Crime Family Accused of Extorting the Dead

By HardBoiledNews Staff

FOGGIA, Italy — They even shook down the dead.

Prosecutors have warned of a new crime family emerging in southern Italy who went so far as to extort $60 from funeral homes for every coffin they sold.

Police in the Italian region of Puglia have attempted to break up the Foggia organization with dawn raids across the region, in which some 40 alleged members of a criminal family were arrested.Italian authorities have described the gang as the country’s “public enemy number one.”

Investigators say the family has emerged as a “fifth mafia” alongside more established criminal organizations like the Cosa Nostra in Sicily, the ’Ndrangheta in Calabria, the Camorra in Naples and the Sacra Corona Unita in Puglia.

The suspects, including the clan leaders Federico Trisciuoglio and Pasquale Moretti, were held on suspicion of belonging to a mafia organization, usury and extortion against entrepreneurs and shopkeepers, including funeral homes, the Guardian reported.

According to prosecutors, the Foggia clans required funeral homes to pay $60 for each body.

 “The mafia even managed to bribe an employee of the local administration who provided them every day with a list of people who died in the city,” said Ludovico Vaccaro, head prosecutor of Foggia.

Vaccaro said that extortion had become increasingly pronounced in recent months, with the bosses taking “advantage of the difficulty entrepreneurs are finding themselves in during this pandemic.” Mobsters offered them loans with interest rates of over 400%.

“The Foggia mafia has become the number one public enemy of the state,” said the national anti-mafia prosecutor, Federico Cafiero De Raho. “But the state’s response against these bosses is getting stronger.”

A series of car bombings in Foggia in February prompted the interior ministry to send a team of anti-mafia investigators to Puglia.

“The Foggia mafia is relatively young,” Vaccaro said earlier this year. “The clans that make up this organization have been embedded in this territory for at least 30 years. We cannot compare them to the historical Italian mafia groups like Cosa Nostra and ’Ndrangheta, but it is a mafia characterised by a high degree of aggression and violence. It is what I call a primitive mafia – one that feeds cadavers to pigs, so as not to leave a trace.”

The Foggia mafia began its rise in the late 1970s, when the head of the Neapolitan mafia, Raffaele Cutolo, met a delegation of local criminals in Puglia with the goal of  expanding his empire into the contraband cigarette trade in the Balkans.

Today, at least three criminal sub-groups operate in the area around the city of Foggia. Besides the Società Foggiana, which profits from extortion and drug-dealing, there is the Cerignola clan, known for its armored car heists and cocaine smuggling, and another group active around Gargano, on the spur of Italy’s “boot,” where 80% of killings go unsolved and whose bosses are believed to have killed 360 people.

“Today’s operation is important because it finally allows us to send a message to the entrepreneurs who are being oppressed by these mobsters,” said Vaccaro. “This operation must give them the courage to rebel and collaborate with the authorities. Only like this can we finally get rid of a mafia that is impoverishing our territory.”

Coral Reef Thief Guilty of Plundering Glow-in-the-Dark Sea Creatures

By HardBoiledNews Staff

SAN SEBASTIAN, Puerto Rico — It was some truly fishy business.

The owner of a saltwater aquarium company in Puerto Rico has pleaded guilty to illegally smuggling protected coral reef marine creatures to customers in the United States.

Federal prosecutors say Luis Joel Vargas Martell would go snorkeling among Puerto Rico’s reefs and use a chisel to pry up a reef creature known as “rics,” “polyps” or “mushrooms” which are popular among home aquarium owners because they glow under ultraviolet light.

As the animals would attach themselves to the reef substrate, Vargas would end up breaking off parts of the coral in his efforts to remove them.

He would then send them to customers in the U.S. claiming they were inanimate objects.In all, prosecutors say Vargas sold $90,000 worth of the animals between 2014 and 2016.

It is illegal to harvest such creatures in Puerto Rico if the specimens are going to be sent off-island or otherwise sold commercially. On multiple occasions, Vargas would accompany his business partner, Raymond Torres, and they would snorkel from the shoreline in search of the animals.

Torres pleaded guilty to similar charges earlier this year. Both await sentencing.

Lucky Lotto Man Wins Double Jackpot After Accidentally Playing Same Numbers Twice

By HardBoiledNews Staff

The man had been playing the same numbers every week when he struck gold twice

BORONIA, Australia — Luck sometimes does strike twice.

An Australian man scored double the jackpot in the lottery when he accidentally bought the same winning ticket twice.

The man, whose name was not made public, took home about $1.5 million as a result of his mistake.

“It’s the best mistake ever! I’d be happy to make a few more mistakes like this one,” the man said, according to TattsLotto.

“I didn’t realize I had bought the same ticket twice,” he said. “That’s so funny! I play every week and I usually just press ‘play it again.’ I didn’t realize I had pressed it twice.”

The winner said the set numbers, which he plays every week, had been hand-picked by his family.

“We put all of the numbers in the box, and then I asked each of my immediate family members to choose one,” he said. “So they are special numbers, but not birthdays or anything, just special because my family helped me choose them.”

Indian Conmen Dupe Doctor Out of $90K in Magic Lamp Scam

By HardBoiledNews Staff

The scamsters even conjured a fake genie out of this lamp

MEERUT, India — His money disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

An Indian doctor lost $90,000 when he was duped into buying “Aladdin’s lamp” from a pair of conmen who even conjured up a fake genie to convince him of its magical powers, police said.

Dr. Laeek Khan went to police in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh after he discovered no genie appeared when he rubbed the lamp.

“The cheats had struck a deal for much more but the doctor had paid about seven million rupees ($90,000),” said senior officer Amit Rai. He said the men had been arrested and charges were pending.

In his complaint, Dr. Khan said one of the men had pretended to be an occultist and made a “jinn,” or supernatural figure, appear from the lamp, local media reported. But when Khan asked if he could touch the genie or take the lamp home, they refused, saying it might cause him harm.

Eventually they sold the lamp to him, promising it would bring health, wealth and good fortune. Khan said he later realised the “genie” was actually just one of the men in disguise.

“The men have also cheated other families using the same modus operandi. The total amount of money involved runs into several million rupees,” Rai said.

Serial Shoplifter Turns to Burglary Out of Lockdown Boredom

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Samuel Giblin stole hundreds of chocolate bars from this shop because he was bored

STOKE-ON-TRENT, United Kingdom — A serial shoplifter told cops he was so bored by being unable to pilfer items from shops because of England’s lockdown that he switched to burglarizing the shuttered stores instead.

Samuel Giblin was jailed for 16 months after kicking in the glass window of a Poundland variety store and making off with $135 worth of chocolate bars and milk, according to the Stoke Sentinel.

The 29-year-old was identified from surveillance cameras and, when police searched his room, they found nine bottles of vaping liquid that had been stolen from a supermarket a few days earlier.

Giblin told cops he committed the crimes because he was “bored” as he “could not go shoplifting because all the shops were shut.”

The arrest didn’t stop him. While on bail, he broke into The Bait Box, in Newcastle, and stole $640 worth of fishing tackle, police said.

Russia’s Sausage King Killed in Crossbow Attack

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Vladimir Marugov owned some of Russia’s largest sausage factories

MOSCOW —  The Sausage King is dead. All hail the king.

Several intruders broke into a sauna at the home of a Russian meat tycoon known as the “Sausage King,” tied him and a woman up and demanded money before killing him with a crossbow, authorities said.

The woman managed to escape the attack in the Moscow region and alert the police but when officers arrived, 54-year-old Vladimir Marugov, owner of the “Ozyorsky” and “Meat Empire” sausage factories, was dead.

Russia’s Investigative Committee said the intruders had demanded that Marugov hand over cash kept at his home but then opened fire with the crossbow before fleeing in a car.

Investigators managed to find the weapon and the getaway vehicle in a village in the suburbs of Istra, a town west of Moscow where some affluent Russians have weekend homes.

Police say they have taken a 49-year-old Moscow man into custody in connection to the slaying.

Speeding Driver Killed in Collision With Elephant on Thailand Road

By HardBoiledNews Staff

The elephant was unmoved after being hit by the car and then stomped the driver to death

NAKHON RATCHASIMA, Thailand — A speeding driver was killed after he hit an elephant that then stomped his pickup flat, police said.

Officials in northeast Thailand said the vehicle plowed into the wild pachyderm’s hind legs as sun set at the edge of the Khao Yai National Park, police said.

The angry animal then reared up and crushed the vehicle, killing the driver, 58-year-old Nakharin Boonchai, the Bangkok Post reported.

“Elephants don’t come out during the day but they start coming out when it gets dark,” said Lt. Col. Kemchat Paedkaew, of the Thai police. He said up to two people a year are killed by elephants in areas surrounding the park.

The accident happened on Wednesday on a small road with signs telling drivers to be aware of wild animals that sometimes stray from the park. Locals reported that two elephants had been crossing the road at the time and that they tried to warn Boonchai — who was not from the area — to slow down, but he hit the rear animal as darkness fell.

This was all that was left of the truck after the elephant was done with it

Officials tracked the stricken elephant, which was bleeding from one of its legs but still able to walk, and were monitoring its condition.

4 Hospitalized, Dozens Flee After Pitbull Goes on House Party Rampage

By HardBoiledNews Staff

The prickly pitbull had just been adopted

COLWOOD, Canada — This dog wasn’t in the mood to party.

A Canadian house party ended with four people in the hospital and 13 people having to barricade themselves for safety after a newly-adopted pitbull went berserk, police said.

The pissed off pooch lost its cool after drunken men began rough housing at a British Columbia rager and bumped into the animal, causing it to become aggressive, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said.

Before police could come and restrain the 140-pound beast, 13 people — including children — had to barricade themselves inside a home to get away from the marauding mutt.

Even the dog’s owners sustained serious injuries as they attempted to corral the animal into a bedroom.

Four injured people were taken to hospital for treatment.

One injured and heavily intoxicated man was arrested after removing his shirt and attempting to fight with officers.

Police say the pitbull had been recently adopted by the family as a rescue animal and that a review of the attack and the dog’s history of aggression will be conducted before any decision is made about the animal’s future.

The Ministry of Children and Families were also contacted to review the safety of the children who were at the party but were unharmed in the attack.

 

Fight Over Books Leads to First Ever Attempted Murder in Antarctica

By HardBoiledNews Staff

Stir craziness and a fight over giving away the endings of books led to the bloodshed

BELLINGSHAUSEN STATION, Antarctica — That’s some truly cold-blooded stuff.

In the first known attempted murder ever in Antarctica, a Russian engineer search station at a remote research station allegedly snapped and tried to stab a coworker to death because he kept giving away the endings of books.

Sergei Savitskiy, 54, had been relying on the books to pass the long months at Bellingshausen Station on King George Island, but his colleague Oleg Beloguzov, a 52-year-old welder, kept spoiling the endings.

Eventually, Savitskiy blew his top, and plunged a kitchen knife into Beloguzov’s chest, according to the Moskovskii Komsomlets newspaper. Beloguzov was flown to the nearest hospital, in Chile and is expected to survive.

Fellow workers said while the blow up over the books was the last straw, the two men had long been at each others’ throats and that working in the close confines of the station only fueled the enmity.

Savitskiy was sent back to St. Petersburg, where he had been charged with attempted murder. While he admitted to the stabbing, Savitskiy insists he didn’t mean to kill Beloguzov.

The station, which was set up by the Soviets in 1968, is located in one of Antarctica’s few mild regions — where winter temperatures hover around a balmy 15 degrees.

Workers there spend their free time flipping between two Russian TV channels, exercising at a gym — or reading in the research library.

Elderly Villager Stoned to Death by Rogue Monkeys in India

By HardBoiledNews Staff

The vicious pack of monkeys rained bricks down on the 72-year-old villager

BAGHPAT, India — Monkey see, monkey do, monkey kill!

An elderly villager in India was stoned to death by a pack of furious monkeys who rained bricks down on him from a tree as he collected firewood, authorities said.

Dharampal Singh, 72, was hit on the head and chest by the bricks which the animals had gathered from a nearby dilapidated building. He later died at a hospital.

Family members had filed a formal complaint with police, naming the beasts as Singh’s killers, although, authorities have so far ruled the death an accident.

“Monkeys threw more than 20 bricks at Dharampal on Thursday. He was hit on the head, chest and legs. Thrown from quite a height, the bricks were enough to kill him,” Singh’s brother, Krishnapal Singh, told the Times of India.

“These rogue monkeys are the real culprits and must pay for it. We have written a complaint against the monkeys but police don’t seem to be convinced,” he said.

Villagers say the gang of monkeys have been terrorizing residents for some time, and Singh’s death was not a surprise.

“The attack on Dharampal could be the worst case, but monkeys have made life difficult for villagers here and there doesn’t seem to be any solution in sight,” villager Bheema Kashyap said.

Police say they are aware of the situation, but couldn’t see how it would be possible to charge the creatures with murder.

“How can we register the case against monkeys? This will make us a laughingstock. I don’t think it is a logical demand,” said Officer Chitwan Singh. “We were definitely informed of the bizarre accident and we registered it in our case diary after which a post-mortem was also conducted.”