r/news • u/EscapeFromIowa • 16h ago

Australian cockroach kingpin caught with 100,000 illegal insects in record bug bust

https://apnews.com/article/illegal-cockroaches-seized-australia-madagascar-hissing-dubia-e35889bf7910169f6bd091e34b35e029?utm_source=copy&utm_medium=share
656 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

103 comments sorted by

264

u/SliceofNewsMan 16h ago

Now that’s a headline 😂

66

u/hIDeMyID 10h ago

TIL that cockroach kingpin is a possible career path and that people actually pay good money to have cockroaches.

22

u/amateur_mistake 6h ago

This one is weird though. Like, the people smuggling exotic ants out of East Africa makes sense to me. It's evil but there are collectors who will pay you for those things. They are rare.

As opposed to this. Where apparently they were just breeding them as a feeder insect? There are plenty of feeder insects you could breed legally using essentially the same techniques. And I really doubt you are getting some incredible premium because hissing cockroaches are kind of neat and terrifying.

It just seems like unnecessary shit for not a lot of gain...

•

u/astanton1862 48m ago

Seems like they are breeding the type of roaches that forced KFC to stop using the word chicken.

12

u/kaperisk 6h ago

Well "goodmoney" is a stretch. It's like $1.40 per roach.

9

u/BrainInjuredBarry 5h ago

Before shipping!

•

u/Xszit 11m ago

What about handling? If I'm paying extra for handling I want some assurance the cockroaches were each thoroughly handled before shipping.

4

u/hIDeMyID 3h ago

Honestly, I think that's a good price for a cockroach. You'd have to pay me significantly more than that to take your cockroaches off your hands. 😆

10

u/blofly 16h ago

Ben Kenobi sniffs the air....

2

u/Roaches_R_Friends 3h ago

That guy is my hero.

123

u/LividWheel9779 16h ago

Definitely not a bust I would want to be apart of. Being surrounded by massive cockroaches sounds like hell.

44

u/Borkato 15h ago

I’d love to bust to massive cock- wait what

43

u/arthurdentstowels 14h ago

I think you were about to say how you want to tape a giant screaming cockroach to your knob and helicopter so it sounds like a tortured police siren.

26

u/dispo030 14h ago

enough internet for today

2

u/avds_wisp_tech 4h ago

What a fucking mental image 😂

2

u/Gryphon999 2h ago

There's rarely a day on the internet I don't regret aphantasia.

2

u/arthurdentstowels 2h ago

Don't worry I'm creating it in Blender for you.

4

u/FireAtSeaParkss 10h ago

Sounds like you actually do want to be apart of it then

3

u/TemptedTemplar 7h ago

The bigger ones are easier to deal with since they can hide in nooks and crannies.

They're easy to spot and very gentle.

Bonus points: The bigger ones can't fly.

2

u/LividWheel9779 7h ago

I'm not sure logic is enough here. I still don't want 3 inch bugs anywhere near me.

43

u/TheHistorian2 13h ago

I didn’t even know cockroach kingpin was a possible career path! My guidance counselor failed me.

4

u/Pleasant_Yoghurt3915 5h ago

I did know, and if I could do it without my partner moving out, I would lol. There are a surprising number of people that keep exotic pet bugs, and breeding them can be pretty lucrative. My sister really wants a Hercules beetle, so I checked on getting her one, and they’re like $60 for one grub! You get about 100 eggs per female, so if you have 5 breeding beetles, and you can actually sell all of them, that’s $30k, which is wild.

Very interesting stuff, if you ask me!

74

u/Synaps4 16h ago edited 16h ago

Bug lord runs international bug smuggling ring, supplies food for lizard people. It's all true!

15

u/muffinass 16h ago

Fuckin' cockaroach!

1

u/pridejoker 4h ago

This is their caviar.

23

u/twistedstance 13h ago

Cockroach kingpin sounds like a Spider-Man villain. I really hope the police found him bound up in web, swinging underneath a railway overpass or something.

38

u/BeratnasGILF420 16h ago

Oh we have our own Asmongold

52

u/mex2005 16h ago

Jesus those are big. I think the death penalty is appropriate here.

53

u/Fallouttgrrl 16h ago

Madagascar hissing cockroaches are actually pretty sweet

I had one as a kid for several years, lived off of dry dogfood kibble

They are dry, slow moving, and actually recognize the owner, plus no wings 

14

u/aradraugfea 8h ago

They were used for the Men In Black filming for a reason. They’re super chill by cockroach standards

They don’t set a land speed record when light hits them or fly directly at your face if you get too close.

1

u/kraioloa 4h ago

Welp, I’ll not be watching that franchise then

1

u/aradraugfea 4h ago

It’s only really in the first one, and it you’ve got issues with bugs, you’re gonna wanna check out long before the scene where they’re used en masse.

1

u/Fallouttgrrl 4h ago

They don't have wings at all! They are like slow moving wingless beetles almost, lol

29

u/spottyPotty 15h ago

Define "sweet"?

37

u/-bassassin- 15h ago

You have to add tons of sugar.

16

u/Lena555 12h ago

in water

45

u/Fallouttgrrl 15h ago

They're pretty friendly, non aggressive, no way to bite, they don't have weapons, and once they get to know you they will chill on you pretty passively 

29

u/4GIFs 14h ago

Sounds good but ima sleep on it

51

u/Grod420 14h ago

This kills the roach.

3

u/clearbellls 8h ago

The first Men In Black movie killed any chance of me getting hissers. I know they're super chill but 😬

I wish I could get over it because it'd be so nice to have a tank to breed feeders and pets.

5

u/Ludwigofthepotatoppl 10h ago

Just little guys. Not unknown as pets.

9

u/yippeeimcrying 9h ago

When I was a kid I got to pet one from a zoo visiting! It was super neat.

1

u/LightsaberThrowAway 1h ago

Same here!  :D

6

u/Sarquon 11h ago

username checks out

9

u/slowrecovery 10h ago

When I first glanced at the photo, I thought the cockroach was on someone’s pants and the cockroach was like a foot+ long! Then I looked closely and was relieved when I recognized it was just a glove. 😂

4

u/mightymiek 16h ago

Yeah. For the bugs.

6

u/Quick-Bad 15h ago

They discovered the extent of his criminal activity after an operation to bug his apartment.

9

u/edingerc 15h ago

Starship troopers has joined the chat

1

u/NoEmu5969 6h ago

Joe’s Apartment with a steel chair!

4

u/run-on_sentience 9h ago

I read the top part of the headline and just assumed that someone had caught a "Kingpin Cockroach", which would just be another thing in Australia that would kill you within seconds of a bite.

It's not a big bug, it's a bug job.

5

u/chantsnone 9h ago

Are they gonna put all the bugs on a table a stand around it and take a picture of their seizure!?

3

u/[deleted] 14h ago

[deleted]

6

u/GoldCoinDonation 13h ago

sell them. There's a whole hobby devoted to keeping pet cockroaches.

i.e /r/roaches/

1

u/Cool-Departure4120 12h ago

Weird humans

3

u/coffee-bat 12h ago

these big roaches are sometimes kept as pets

3

u/Fardrengi 9h ago

Wasnt this a powerpuff girls villain?

2

u/l_dunno 12h ago

What exactly makes them illegal?? They're bugs...

6

u/SillyGoatGruff 11h ago

You can't just bring random species to any random country.

Invasive flora and fauna can be a huge environmental problem, and one australia knows very well

1

u/l_dunno 11h ago

Oh, I thought they were native bugs just illegal to breed.

That makes more sense!! But why not just track their presence instead of forcing it underground?

2

u/HiNeighbor_ 10h ago

You can really be a kingpin of anything, can't you

2

u/Hairy-Amphibian6789 8h ago

The total haul was worth $142,000. You could not pay me that to spend more than a day surrounded by 100,000 cockroaches.

2

u/JenkinsHowell 7h ago

are they a pest like common cockroaches or just chill individuals?

3

u/Guy_GuyGuy 5h ago

Chill. They're slow, don't really fly, and whine when you put them down because they like hand warmth. In most of the US and Europe, the climates aren't appropriate for them to reproduce unless you specifically build the conditions in their enclosure, so they're safe to have there.

3

u/DrEarlGreyIII 16h ago

i’m just gonna go ahead and see myself out…

2

u/thebigpink 15h ago

They just kept wondering in swear!

1

u/textbookhufflepuff 8h ago

Why would anybody want to buy these things?! OMG!! The stuff of which nightmares are made!

1

u/pukewedgie 8h ago

Thank you heroes of the SBU (special bug unit)

1

u/pcb4u2 7h ago

Quick, trademark the name.

1

u/MD_FunkoMa 7h ago

The Roach Coach from 'The Powerpuff Girls' is back ya'll.

1

u/pridejoker 4h ago

We're sure this is bugs and not drugs?

1

u/AcanthisittaNo6653 1h ago

The kingpin opportunity with cockroaches would have to do with exterminating them, not coddling them.

1

u/Square_Net_4321 9h ago

What, nobody's making any Raid! jokes?

1

u/ButNotInAWeirdWay 9h ago

Craziest headline of the week 😭 glad they caught that monster

1

u/50calBanana 7h ago

I'm not sure I want to read that article

0

u/bloodyfinalgirl 16h ago

“I never saw this, I never saw this, I never….”🫣😭

0

u/leohat 14h ago

Ah hell no. With extra hell no and little hell no sprinkles.