QUIRKY WORLD ... Prison island set to go zoological to tackle escapees

INDONESIA: When Indonesia’s anti-drugs tsar announced plans to guard a death-row prison island with crocodiles, the government rushed to explain that it was just a joke, but yesterday Budi Waseso said he was now thinking of using tigers and piranha fish too.

The national narcotics agency chief said he had already obtained two crocodiles from a farm to study their power and aggression and may ultimately put as many as 1,000 in place to keep convicts from escaping.

“The number will depend on how big the area is, or whether perhaps to combine them with piranhas,” he said.