Dazed Dealer Climbs Into Danish Police Car—Thinks It’s a Taxi, Gets a Ride to Jail

Dazed Dealer Climbs Into Danish Police Car—Thinks It’s a Taxi, Gets a Ride to Jail
Does this look like a taxi to you? It did to one Danish marijuana dealer. (Sonny Munk Carlsen/AFP/Getty Images)
Chris Jasurek
12/23/2017
Updated:
12/23/2017

Denmark is known for its liberal policies regarding marijuana use, but there are some limits to what the police will allow.

For instance, if you want to hop in a taxi carrying a bag holding 1,000 marijuana cigarettes, read the name on the door carefully.

If you realize after closing the door that the sign on the door doesn’t say “taxi,” but rather, “police,” well, too late for you.

It sounds like a scene from a comedy film, but for the Danish dealer who actually did it, the mistake could cost him as much as an eight-year sentence.

It sort of looks like a taxi, except it has blue lights on the roof and says “Police” in large letters on the door. (commons.wikimedia.org)
It sort of looks like a taxi, except it has blue lights on the roof and says “Police” in large letters on the door. (commons.wikimedia.org)

Cue the jokes about “sampling his own product.”

And yes, this really happened. The story comes straight from Jesper Bangsgaard, Copenhagen chief of police, who told it to the Danish paper, Jyllands Posten.
“He had all his cannabis in a bundle and was holding it in his arms so there was not much interrogation needed,” Chief Bangsgaard explained.
A mural in Christiana condemns hard drugs and promotes marijuana use. (en.wikipedia.org)
A mural in Christiana condemns hard drugs and promotes marijuana use. (en.wikipedia.org)
The Copenhagen police found the incident sufficiently noteworthy that they tweeted about it.

“Last night a cannabis dealer from Christiania who wanted to get home quickly got into a taxi. He received a big surprise when he realized it was actually a police car he was sitting in,” said the tweet.

“The police officers were happy to see him since he was carrying around 1,000 joints,” the tweet continued.

Nobody knows why the dealer, who needed a lift back to Copenhagen’s Christiana district, where drug sales used to be tolerated, couldn’t tell what kind of car he was in.

What is known, is that not only his eyesight but also his timing were very bad.

Policemen patrol in Copenhagen's Christiania district, on Aug. 31, 2016. (Jens Noergaard Larsen/AFP/Getty Images)
Policemen patrol in Copenhagen's Christiania district, on Aug. 31, 2016. (Jens Noergaard Larsen/AFP/Getty Images)
Lately, Copenhagen police have been cracking down on the Christiana district.
Established in the 1970s as what residents call an “anarchist district,” the neighborhood of about 1,000 people was home to open-air drug markets where people could buy pot like buying fish or vegetables at any street market.
The entry to Freetown Christiana, Copenhagen. (commons.wikimedia.org)
The entry to Freetown Christiana, Copenhagen. (commons.wikimedia.org)
In the past several weeks, police have raided more than 40 drug-selling stalls on what is called “Pusher Street,” confiscating 8.5 kilos of hashish and another four kilos of cannabis, with 116 people charged with possession.
A central square in Freetown, Christiana, Copenhagen. (commons.wikimedia.org)
A central square in Freetown, Christiana, Copenhagen. (commons.wikimedia.org)
From NTD.tv