Story Archive

No Laughing Matter

Police in Boston, Lincolnshire, England, arrested Saulius Cerniauskas, 38, after he’d allegedly imported an extendable baton, four cans of teargas spray, and two of pepper spray — all illegal weapons in the U.K. — from the Netherlands. According to police records, Cerniauskas told police he’d ordered the items for his girlfriend, who sometimes had to walk alone at night, and he thought they were legal. He said his girlfriend felt vulnerable because of the “clown attacks” she’d seen on Facebook. Jim Clare, prosecuting, said the statutory penalty for the illegal weapons was a fine of 20,000 pounds (US$26,000), six months imprisonment, or both, but that was intended for people importing weapons commercially, which Cerniauskas wasn’t doing. The magistrates said Cerniauskas’s offenses were “considered serious” in the U.K., imposed a sentence of three months imprisonment suspended for a year, and ordered him to pay 200 pounds (US$260) in costs and charges. They also ordered the weapons destroyed. (MS/Peterborough Telegraph) ...They weren’t just clowning around.