Three men are facing felony theft charges in Texas after they allegedly pulled what can only be described as the oldest trick in the book: stealing a shark from an aquarium and smuggling it out of the building in a baby stroller.
The would-be thieves were caught on video Saturday stealing a horn shark from a tank in the San Antonio Aquarium in the stroller. Here’s what a horn shark looks like, though it is not the shark in question.
The tank the shark was taken from was one of the publicly-accessible ones which visitors are encouraged to put their hands into and touch sea creatures. Surveillance footage captured the heist in question:
…and a very clear image of the guys who did it, in case you were wondering whether they’re master shark thieves or not:
The bucket the men used to transfer the shark into the lower carriage of the stroller was taken from a backroom in the aquarium, and contained bleach, which could be lethal to the animal.
The aquarium’s security cameras also captured the suspects’ car, which police were able to track back to a home where they reportedly found the shark alive along with the three suspects – one of whom confessed to the crime. At this time there is no known motive for why they decided to steal a shark.
The shark is back in the tank now, though there are concerns about its continuing health due to the shock of the encounter and its exposure to bleach. Here’s video, courtesy of the aquarium, via BuzzFeed:
BREAKING: The shark stolen from the San Antonio Aquarium has been rescued 🚨 (video @SAAquarium) pic.twitter.com/plzDxb3C9G
— Michelle Broder Van Dyke (@MBVD) July 31, 2018
There’s a lesson in here, obviously: if you’re a prospective shark thief, you’ve really got to do your homework on how you’re going to pull it off. C’mon! Amateurs. (Also, absolutely don’t steal sharks or indeed anything from the aquarium.)
