Hundreds of cockroaches were released into a New York courtroom in an unusual incident. The incident occurred amid an altercation at an arraignment on Tuesday. According to the Associated Press, the court had to be closed for fumigation.
The Albany City Judicial was hosting court proceedings pertaining to the arrest of four people at the state Capitol when the violence broke out. A defendant who began filming the incident was urged to cease. Hundreds of cockroaches were unleashed from plastic containers in the meanwhile.
An investigation has been launched into the situation and a 34-year-old woman in the audience was detained for disruptive behaviour, hindering governmental administration, and tampering with physical evidence in connection with the altercation.
The Office of Court Administration issued a statement saying, “What transpired is not advocacy or activism, it is criminal behaviour with the intent to disrupt a proceeding and cause damage.”
As the news spread on social media, netizens came up with hilarious reactions,”From guns to roach warfare,” one user observed. “Might also be a wonderful strategy for delaying a test at school with less penalties than a fake bomb threat, if caught,” another user said.
Cockroaches have been used to interrupt day-to-day operations in the past, with a US-based YouTuber using the insect to disrupt fake call centres in India earlier this year.
Mark Rober, a content creator from the United States of America, posted a video showing how he used a bundle of cockroaches to shut down fraudulent call centres. The video has gone viral on numerous social media platforms after being released on his YouTube account.
Mr Rober claimed in the video that he had been investigating scams for over a year and had busted at least four of them. According to him, the fraud centres are based in Kolkata, West Bengal.