Northern Territory police have made a bizarre discovery this week, after finding cannabis stuffed inside the bodies of frozen roast chickens!
The frozen chicken surprise was discovered as part of Operation Starck, an operation designed to keep illicit substances from being imported into remote communities. Targeting alcohol, cannabis, and other illicit substances, the operation screens air and sea freight shipments.
The Northern Territory Police, Fire & Emergency services have all been involved with Operation Starck, which is being run by the Drug and Organised Crime Squad (DOCS). Between May 22nd and May 28th, the police uncovered over 921 grams of cannabis. When this story was first reported in the Katherine Times, it was also noted that several large shipments of cannabis have been seized over the past month – including one over 7kg.
However, it wasn’t DOCS that found the chicken. Instead, it was their friendly companions over at the Dog Operations Unit that sniffed the was able to get past the smell of raw chicken to discover what was hidden inside.
In total, it was found that the chickens contained over 1 kilogram of weed. According to our weed prices guide, that’s a street value of between $15,000 and $25,000, if sold by the gram.
Although the drug traffickers responsible might have believed dogs can’t smell frozen cannabis (and chicken), studies show they actually can. Frozen cannabis may give off a lighter scent than non-frozen cannabis, but you can’t prevent frozen cannabis from smelling (fun fact!).
As a result of the frozen chicken discovery, five drug infringements have been issued, with one person expected to appear in court later this year. Although the frozen chicken has been intercepted, investigations are ongoing into the drug traffickers behind this bizarre attempt.
When addressing the media, Detective Senior Sergeant Crispin Gargan had this to say:
Members continue to see all sorts of different ruses to try and put the dogs off and allude detection. Including frozen chickens this week! They have and will continue to fail.
Now that drug traffickers have scratched ‘frozen chicken’ from their list of successful ways to traffic drugs, we can only imagine what creative idea they will come up with next. As normal, the cannabis will be set on fire and destroyed by the Northern Territory Police. Given that the chickens discovered were roast chickens, we can only wonder if they will also be set on fire.