Local police in Summersea, Costeno Province, have arrested five teenagers over a spree of bizarre thefts of refrigerators which took place between June and October 2022, totalling precisely 100 stolen fridges before the thefts abruptly stopped. Police were stumped for months by the thefts, which consisted solely of the refrigerators – leaving their contents behind in the homes they were stolen from. There were no witnesses to the crimes throughout their period and forensic evidence was inconclusive.
However, on Friday 17th March 2023, the Summersea Police Department (SSPD) announced they had arrested five adolescents between the ages of 14 and 17 over the thefts following a tip from the Federal Cybercrime Investigation Unit about several videos posted on a “dark web” forum which showed all one hundred crimes filmed from the perspective of the perpetrators. The content of the videos has not, as of writing, been released to the press.
While the SSPD declined to name the “dark web” forum on which the videos had been posted, they told a press conference that the forum was designed to encourage groups of young people to carry out a number of crimes as part of an “extreme anarchist ideology that encourages lawbreaking and disrespect for the rules of society”. Members of this forum could earn ‘points’ for posting videos of themselves committing crimes. It is unclear what purpose these ‘points’ served.
The names of those arrested have been withheld from the press due to their ages. It is expected their case will be held in front of a Children’s Hearing rather than an adult court as, despite the number of individual thefts, the crimes were non-violent in nature.
