Real Life Imitates South Park: Men Caught Smuggling KFC Into COVID Locked Down New Zealand
Police in New Zealand have made an unusual arrest when a pair of suspected gang members were apprehended as they attempted to enter Auckland with a boot full of KFC chicken and tens of thousands of dollars in their possession.
Two of the guys were prosecuted for violating the country’s stringent Covid-19 regulations.
Because of the tight Level 4 lockdown in Auckland, all eateries, including take-away services, are closed during this time.
The guys, who were 23 and 30 years old, had traveled from Hamilton, which is approximately 75 miles south of Auckland, according to police.
According to a police spokesman, investigators made the arrest after seeing a suspicious-looking car traveling on a dirt road on the outskirts of the city, according to the BBC.
“Upon seeing the police car, the vehicle did a u-turn and sped off trying to evade police,” they said. “The vehicle was searched and police located the cash, alongside empty ounce bags and a large amount of takeaways.”
A total of three buckets of chicken, about ten cups of coleslaw, a big box of fries, and four large bags containing various other KFC products were photographed by police.
Also taken into custody was NZ$100,000 (US$70,000; £51,000) in cash.
We don’t know if the guys planned to sell their food or whether they were hoping to use it as a diversion in case they were stopped.
Officials said the men will appear in court later this year for violating public health regulations, but they added that further charges were likely to be brought against them. The inquiry is still under progress.
Their high-risk late-night food run has resulted in them being subjected to harsh penalties under New Zealand’s strict anti-Covid legislation. In certain cases, fines may reach up to NZ$4,000, and some offenders may even be sentenced to jail for up to six months.
The guys are not the first New Zealanders to have gotten into problems with the law because of their appetites for fast-food restaurants. A 20-year-old guy was charged last week after posting a video on Tiktok showing him leaving Auckland and buying a huge quantity of food from McDonald’s. The video was later removed from the site.
This immediately reminds me of the episode “Medicinal Fried Chicken” of the hit TV show ‘South Park’ where Eric Cartman is forced to smuggle KFC into South Park after Colorado bans the tasty fast food restaurant.
From midnight on Tuesday, the city of Auckland will be placed under Level 3 lockdown. Residents will be restricted to their houses unless they are attending school, working, or going shopping, but their liberties will be severely curtailed even more.
Shops, restaurants, bars, and nightclubs are all open across the remainder of the nation, which is still under Level 2 lockdown.
