A Swedish tourist who tried to smuggle eight baby snakes into Australia in his trousers to fund a vacation will spend the rest of his visit here behind bars, a court ordered Wednesday.

Per Johan Adolfsson, 28, was sentenced in Sydney’s Central Local Court to two months’ jail for importing an endangered species and making a false and misleading statement.

Adolfsson was searched by customs officers at Sydney Airport on Sept. 22, after arriving from Bangkok on a Thai Airways flight.

They found four venomous baby king cobras and four baby emerald tree boas strapped to his legs in homemade pouches. The cobras had died during the nine-hour flight, but the boas survived.

Adolfsson’s lawyer, Michael Priddis, said his client had bought the snakes for 1,500 Australian dollars (US$1,000) from a professional breeder. It was not clear whether the snakes were bought in Thailand or Sweden.

“It was a very haphazard, small-scale, and amateurish operation,” said Priddis. “He is not part of a smuggling ring.”

Priddis said Adolfsson, a glass worker and window fitter, had been suffering depression and alcohol abuse following an injury at work in Sweden.

He had planned to sell the snakes in Australia for A$5,000 (US3,500) to fund an eight-day holiday and lift his spirits.

“It is a bizarre way to have a holiday,” Priddis told the court.

Magistrate Paul Macmahon said the court took such offenses seriously because exotic animals could bring into Australia sickness that could devastate local wildlife.

As Adolfsson had already spent one month in custody, he will remain in prison until Nov. 21 and then be sent home.

A gun-toting man traveling on a tricycle allegedly tried to hijack a car in Salem, Oregon in what police there termed a “bizarre” incident.

Oswaldo Valenciano, 24, was arrested Tuesday, and will be booked at the Marion County Jail on numerous felony charges, Lt. Dan Cary said.

Police were called to the scene after receiving reports that a man on a tricycle had been firing gunshots and had slammed into a car, Cary said.

“The tricycle pilot picked himself up and demanded to be taken to the hospital,” Cary said. But the driver of the car, Marion Rodriguez, tried to persuade Valenciano to call 911, Cary said.

“At this point, Valenciano opens the rear car door and hops into the back seat of Mr. Rodriguez’s car, demanding to be taken to the hospital,” Cary said. “Mr. Rodriguez gets out of his car and starts asking people to call 911. Valenciano then gets out, mounts his trike — and promptly falls over.”

That’s when a police car arrived on scene, prompting Valenciano to abandon his tricycle and get into the front seat of Rodriguez’s car, armed with a handgun, according to police reports.

“Officers saw the weapon and ordered Valenciano out of the car,” Cary said. “Instead he puts the car in gear and tosses a handgun out. He fails to notice that the emergency brake is still set.”

Valenciano eventually hit a street sign, lost control of the car and tried to hide in a nearby sports utility vehicle, police said

Valenciano was treated at Salem Hospital for a leg injury and a gunshot wound to his left foot.

A gas station owner called and stated he had approximately $300 missing from his cash register. He had all his employees remain at the gas station. When I arrived, I lined up the four employees, all between the ages of seventeen to nineteen. I asked each of them who took the money. No one admitted the theft, so I told them in a few minutes I would know, because the money had been treated with dye - and when the theif’s hands sweat, the dye turns blue.

One of the boys with his hands at his sides immediately looked down at his right hand . I pulled him aside and he admitted taking the money which was returned to the owner.

Story courtesy Det. Lt. C.R.Poshadlo, Retired

A teenager has confessed to 43 unsolved thefts after getting one of his arms trapped in a cigarette vending machine for half an hour.

Officers from Nagata Police Station arrested the unidentified 19-year-old after he admitted that he had already taken scores of cigarette packets from the vending machine, reports Mainichi Daily News.

When an officer asked him what he was doing, the unemployed teenager said: “Trying to steal more cigarettes, but I can’t get my arm out.”

A newspaper deliveryman found the teenager from Nagata-ku, Kobe, squatting in front of a tobacco vending machine operated by a local laundry and alerted police.

Firefighters were also called to the scene and poured soapy water over the teenager’s right arm to help slide it out.

After this failed, police officers used the key to the machine to open it, releasing the teenager after being trapped for around 30 minutes.

One firefighter said: “I’ve never heard of firefighters being called to deal with this kind of problem.”

Lowell, Massachusetts Police asked Christopher Holden if he would like to take anything from his car before they took him to the station to be booked on motor vehicle charges last night.

Police say he pulled a one-pound bag of marijuana out of the trunk.

Holden, 21, of 55 Roper St., now faces charges of possession of the drug, with intent to distribute.

Police gave the following account:

Holden was pulled over at School and Shaw streets about 11 p.m. when an officer spotted him driving with a cracked windshield. He was arrested when a check revealed that the car was not licensed or registered.

Holden took a child’s car seat out of the back seat and then opened the trunk. He took a bag out and an officer smelled a strong odor of marijuana coming from the bag. A smaller plastic bag containing a pound of marijuana, with an approximate street value of $6,000, was seized.

Holden has been charged with operating an unlicensed and unregistered motor vehicle.

Ernest Dumpti was feeling so wealthy after he allegedly helped steal $90,000 from an elderly woman that he decided to pay off a year’s worth of his rent, police said.

The problem was he tried to pay it off in $50,000 cash, to his landlord — a Reno police officer.

Dumpti, 39, and his alleged accomplice Patrick Payne, 43, were booked Monday into the Washoe County Jail for investigation of grand larceny.

The men allegedly took the money from the attic of a Reno woman whose home they were renovating, Reno police said.

Officer Jim Stegmaier said he became suspicious when Dumpti told him he had come into some cash and wanted to pay a year in advance on the property he rents from the officer.

Dumpti allegedly showed Stegmaier the money while Stegmaier was wearing his police uniform.

Police detectives then obtained a search warrant for Dumpti’s home and recovered the $90,000. The woman was not aware the money was missing until she was contacted by police.

Crime in South Africa appears to be less organized than is popularly believed. Four burglars were brought up short when they ran out of petrol while fleeing the scene of a crime on Thursday.

Superintendent Eugene Opperman said the four had broken into a house in Edenvale on the North Rand.

After filling their bakkie with electronic equipment and other household goods, they drove away from the scene, only to run out of petrol on the road to Bedfordview.

Opperman said officials in a Chubb Security vehicle drove past the stranded bakkie, and were prompted to investigate. Apparently the piles of expensive equipment made them suspicious.

As the incompetent burglars were unable to explain their situation they were arrested, said Opperman.

He said police were able to return all the stolen goods to the owner, whose name was on his possessions.

The four burglars appeared in the Germiston magistrate court on Friday but their case was postponed until next week, said Opperman.