We’re sure there are countless ways to secure government projects, either fairly or illicitly, and now we can add coercion via snake flexing as an option, albeit a terrible one, for the latter.
A man in West Bandung regency has been charged with threatening a public official after he brought a humongous python to the office of the regency’s Public Works and Public Housing department. In a video that has circulated widely, the man can be seen angrily demanding that the head of the department give him a construction deal, with the slithering reptile resting on his lap the whole time.
Police have arrested the man, identified as 50-year-old J, and secured the four meter python.
“[J] confessed to threatening the head of PUPR. He demanded for a construction project because it had been several years since he secured one,” Cimahi Police Crime Investigation Unit Head Yohannes Redhoi Sigiro said today.
In accordance with the Criminal Code, J may face up to four years in prison for threatening or coercing a public official.
It hasn’t been confirmed if J brought the snake simply to scare the department head (very likely) or if the suspect was going to use the reptile as a weapon as if he was muggle Voldemort (admittedly much less likely).
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