Pokemon is everywhere you look these days. From television to gaming and toy stores, the franchise is everywhere. You can even find Pokemon in the most unconventional of places as even criminals have started co-opting the brand, and a recent drug bust showed how the family-friendly IP is being used in the drug trade.
The report comes from ABC6 as authorities in Massachusetts recently caught on to a global drug ring. According to the Bristol Country District Attorney’s Office, investigators learned cocaine was being shipped into the United States with Pokemon as a cover. The drugs were being stuffed into Pokemon art cases, and authorities say the drugs were being sent stateside from Puerto Rico.
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As the report says, local authorities in New Bedford worked with the United States Postal Service to figure out the Pokemon mystery. An officer went undercover and delivered one of the case’s suspicious packages. When a man came to get the package, he was eventually pulled over and detained alongside his passenger.
From there, authorities had their suspicions confirmed when they got a warrant to open the package. The box contained sealed Pokemon art cases with drugs. More than 4 pounds of cocaine were discovered in the cases, and this evidence gave police enough merit to charge the suspects with trafficking drugs. At this time, no word is available on whether the suspects have pled guilty or not guilty.ย
As you can imagine, Pokemon is not something you’d expect to see tangled in a drug ring or any kind of criminal activity. The franchise itself keeps a clean image, but that doesn’t mean consumers treat the IP the same. After all, there is a big difference between how The Pokemon Company frames its prized IP compared to the way fans capitalize on Pikachu.ย
Outside of this drug bust in Massachusetts, Pokemon has been in the headlines as of late thanks to a crime spree in Japan. In the past six months, a number of Pokemon-related thefts have occurred in Japan as the brand’s TCG market is heating up. Several of these thefts have robbed collectors of more than $100,000 USD in cards, so maybe it is time Officer Jenny upped her patrols…!ย
What do you make of this wild Pokemon crime? Do you think Officer Jenny could have busted this ring or…? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below or hit me up on Twitter @MeganPetersCB.
