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.

“Because the [prison] personnel numbers are short we can use wild animals. We could use tigers too — for conservation at the same time.”

Piranha fish are indigenous to South America and are not found in Indonesia.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo declared a war on what he has dubbed a “narcotics emergency” after taking office a year ago, basing his campaign on a study that showed at least 40 people a day were dying from drug use. He has repeatedly refused clemency to traffickers and more than two dozen, mostly foreign, drug convicts have been executed this year after a five-year moratorium on the death penalty.

End of the line

USA: A man with a long history of pretending to be a transit worker and commandeering New York City subway trains for joy rides has been arrested after stealing a Greyhound bus.

Police say Darius McCollum was arrested by officers who spotted the bus in Brooklyn. They are investigating from where the bus was stolen. Police initially said it had been taken from New Jersey but later said they suspect it was taken from the Port Authority Bus Terminal.

McCollum has about 25 transit-related arrests, starting in 1981, when he drove the E train to the World Trade Center at the age of 15. In 2008, he was arrested for stealing a bus from Hoboken, New Jersey.

Man vs Mascot

USA: A suburban Phoenix official has filed a claim against Arizona State University, saying the school mascot seriously injured his back when the costumed character playfully leaped on him at a football game two months after surgery.

Tempe City councillor David Schapira said he is not interested in suing after the mascot’s prank on September 18 set back his recovery and led to a four-day hospital stay and physical therapy.

Schapira is seeking over $96,000 (€89,500) in damages and an additional $27,000 (€25,000) to reimburse the city for his medical bills.

“I was almost healed from the back surgery,” Schapira said. “It’s frustrating just having to deal with it day to day but that doesn’t mean I’m mad at anybody. Everyone keeps trying to play that angle, but I’m not.”

The ASU Sun Devils’ mascot Sparky jumped on Schapira’s back while he was taking a photo on the sidelines during half-time of the game.

The councillor said he was using a cane and had just handed it to his wife to hold when the mascot pounced. He thinks Sparky probably didn’t see him walking with it earlier.

Haggis goes west

SCOTLAND: Haggis could be back on the menu in the US in the next 24 months as a result of changes in the rules due to be published next year, Scotland’s rural affairs secretary has said.

Richard Lochhead has held meetings in the US this week in a bid to lift the import ban on the traditional Scottish delicacy.

Haggis sales to America have been prohibited since 1971 because some of the ingredients — including sheep’s lungs — are banned there.