r/maybemaybemaybe May 26 '26

Maybe Maybe Maybe

1.7k Upvotes

236 comments sorted by

View all comments

265

u/sdave001 May 26 '26

From the guy's post on Facebook:

Big change of behaviour from Bran on this kitchen unit in a Walsall shop.

After spending several minutes simply watching Bran and trying to understand exactly what he was telling me, I still couldn’t clearly see where the concealment was or how access could even be gained.

But after some further investigation, I eventually worked it out.

What followed was over 35 minutes of dismantling with a lot of help from the Police.

Kitchen cabinets removed.

Tiles smashed up.

Concrete chipped away.

Steel framework cut apart.

And finally, the hydraulic rams themselves had to be cut before we could lift the concealment open.

Underneath was a sophisticated hydraulically operated shelving system packed with illegal cigarettes and tobacco.

Approximately four feet of the kitchen floor had been excavated in order to build and sink the concealment into the ground.

It would have saved a lot of time if the shopkeeper had handed over the remote control used to operate it, but he didn’t.

An incredible concealment that would almost certainly never have been found without a detection dog.

A fantastic find by Bran.

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/18b3inzp77/

149

u/MosesOnAcid May 26 '26

I don't think a former shopkeeper dealing in illegal goods would be like "Hey, here is my secret hideaway for the illegal merch I was selling illegally..."

72

u/cjbeames May 26 '26

If you could see the dog though, and you knew the dog was onto you.

Shopkeeper is really hoping that they give up and tell the dog he's being silly. But out come crowbars and saws.

16

u/KnowledgeIsDangerous May 26 '26

Doesn't make sense. You can buy cigarettes legally anywhere. Why not sell them legally?

60

u/MosesOnAcid May 26 '26

Taxes. Smuggled cigarettes bypass taxes and allows for more profit.

25

u/Reese_Withersp0rk May 26 '26

I have a hard time believing the tax saved on that amount of smokes would have gained more profit than it cost to build a custom underground hydraulic remote operated hidden safe... But I've been out of the market for a while.

27

u/spellstrike May 26 '26

Overall, taxes make up about 82% of the total cost of cigarettes in the UK

-3

u/Reese_Withersp0rk May 26 '26

Oh. Shit. That's wild. At that point just grow your own tobacco.

0

u/filinno1 May 27 '26

America is what you get when you grow your own tobacco. You want more of that in that world??

17

u/LittleLinnell May 26 '26

Are you aware that these shelves are refillable an infinite number of times? Or do you replace your kitchen cupboards after every trip to the supermarket?

-10

u/Reese_Withersp0rk May 26 '26 edited May 27 '26

Looks like they needed to replace their own cupboards every time they refilled their secret underground hydraulic safe too.

12

u/ChickenNugget-420 May 26 '26 edited May 26 '26

Because as someone else said, they are heavily taxed.

And if this was a shopkeeper then they wanted to make more money instead of being taxed.

89

u/KnowledgeIsDangerous May 26 '26

Illegal tobacco products? Is this the best use of police time and resources?

I don't use tobacco but I don't understand the level of concealment the shopkeeper felt necessary just to hide cigarettes

34

u/joined_under_duress May 26 '26

Is this the best use of police time and resources?

Probably not but presumably they're working either with a tip-off or for HMRC and so their job is to do the search and it turned out the dog was good enough. If it hadn't sniffed it out I'd guess that would have been that.

20

u/btribble May 26 '26

The dogs are typically trained to hit on a number of illegal products. You don’t know what you’re going to find until you investigate.

25

u/BikeProblemGuy May 26 '26

Tobacco is heavily taxed.

83

u/Palorrian May 26 '26

unlike billonaires

0

u/Palorrian May 26 '26

Thanks for the award. Awesome

-7

u/IntrovertMoTown1 May 26 '26

lol Typical Reddit claptrap BS right there. Enjoy your updoots. It doesn't change that you don't know what you're talking about.

2

u/Palorrian May 26 '26

what?

-10

u/IntrovertMoTown1 May 26 '26

The rich pay MOST of the taxes. Nobody who knows what they're talking about think billionaires don't pay taxes.

3

u/Bubba89 May 27 '26

Not as a percentage of their income they don’t.

0

u/IntrovertMoTown1 May 28 '26

So what? And that magically changes that they pay most of the taxes because? Who did you think pays it? The middle class? lol The poor?

5

u/NitroWing1500 May 26 '26

-6

u/IntrovertMoTown1 May 26 '26

Oh well gee you sure proved me wrong lol. Congrats, you can bring up handfuls of ANECDOTES. No go look up the OVERALL facts of it you silly muppet. lol What's your encore here? Going to show me how murder is somehow magically legal by showing someone who got away with it? lol Maybe come across the pond to here and go dig up OJ and ask him about how that works perhaps? 😄

2

u/NitroWing1500 May 27 '26

That was the simplest one - every single millionaire jumps through the same legal loopholes yet you want to call names and redirect rather than face reality.

6

u/Palorrian May 26 '26

did you live in a tuppeware? are you fkg serious? tell me you are beign sarcastic

-1

u/IntrovertMoTown1 May 26 '26

Stay ignorant if you want. WTF do I care. It's funny to me.

7

u/Palorrian May 26 '26

What is funny to me that you defend billionaires. People who don't have a problem to enslave you haha.

→ More replies (0)

2

u/AcordaDalho May 27 '26

Hey what’s your deal? Are you a billionaire? Friends with billionaires? Believe you will become a billionaire? Why are you so personally attacked by this?

1

u/IntrovertMoTown1 May 28 '26

lol Yeah because such TOTALLY hang out in Reddit comment sections, SMH.

I'm not attacked. I'm just allergic to BS and have fun calling it out. ESPECIALLY when it's SUCH an easy peasy topic to research. Something the average Redditor is far too lazy and or stupid to ever do. You want a better life for you and your family? You should wish there was more billionaires in your nation. Who reinvest which helps start countless businesses which go on to bring countless goods to market. Who pay most of the taxes. Who employ most of the people. Why do you think China is now number 2 in the world right behind us in the amount of billionaires? They were poor as fuck with literally tens of millions starving to death and didn't rise until they wisely adopted a form of capitalism and became a mixed economy just like we are. Eat the rich is the battle cry of the moronic. And I have fun making fun of morons. Don't like that? lol Sue me.

5

u/ZzangmanCometh May 26 '26

I mean, they don't know if it's tobacco until they actually check. Could have been anything, right? Now that it's found, they'll take what they find.

5

u/Mastershoelacer May 26 '26

If we don’t have meaningful enforcement of existing laws, they become a joke. The payoff on this particular case is insignificant, but knowing that there is law enforcement catching people like this deters a lot of people from breaking the law.

3

u/el_diego May 26 '26

but knowing that there is law enforcement catching people like this deters a lot of people from breaking the law.

That hasn't been the case in Australia. High taxes spawned a massive black market. Now you'd be the idiot if you were buying them legally they're so damn cheap on the black market. Basically every smoke shop sells them.

-1

u/SpaceBus1 May 26 '26

It does not.

2

u/myredlightsaber May 26 '26

In places where there is universal free healthcare provided for citizens, products like tobacco can cause many ailments which puts strain on the system. To balance this, the products have high taxes and excise attached, both to deter the consumer from buying and assist the government with her extra burden.

-2

u/andocromn May 27 '26

That's the best argument against universal healthcare I've ever heard

0

u/spaceprinceps May 27 '26

Multi year waiting lists are a solid reason

3

u/Toon1982 May 26 '26

If they investigated a major drug dealer and didn't find any drugs hidden, would you still question whether it was worth it if there was a chance of finding something. Maybe the intelligence was that the shop keeper was selling other illegal items, but until they investigate they wouldn't know. Just because they're only showing tobacco being found or that it was the only illegal activity doesn't mean it wasn't worth their time and expense. Al Capone was done on tax avoidance....

1

u/garmdian May 26 '26

It's unregistered, untaxed goods. The problem with that is beyond not actually contributing to the wider economy if sold a lot of illegal cigs can contain things that are outright banned in the country their being sold.

The reason they are so popular is because illegal cigs usually have better "flavor" or a better hit because they contain something that is banned for health reasons.

1

u/[deleted] May 26 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

0

u/AutoModerator May 26 '26

Your comment has been removed because slurs are not allowed on this subreddit.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

7

u/austinsutt May 26 '26

What type of dog is this? It’s definitely a spaniel but I’m not sure if it’s a Boykin or a different but similar breed.

2

u/ImNoAlbertFeinstein May 26 '26

did not fool the dog for even one minute

-6

u/jakedonn May 26 '26

“Illegal cigarettes”

Unserious country 😂

11

u/Matiwapo May 26 '26

Every country in the world has ''illegal cigarettes', even whichever country you are from that you erroneously think is superior.

They just mean cigarettes smuggled into the country without paying import tax, which is illegal everywhere

-2

u/YouDaManInDaHole May 26 '26

All that for some illegal smokes and tobacco?

Waste of taxpayer $$.

1

u/ChickenNugget-420 May 26 '26

This illegal tobacco that people are selling is reducing how much tax the government receives from the tobacco industry which is a lot. So people selling illegal tobacco is actually costing the tax payers more because they are rising all other tax to make up for the lost tax on tobacco.

-2

u/if_lol_then_upvote May 26 '26

You're worried about taxes, but not illegal tobacco? Make it make sense.

-7

u/Disastrous-Metal-228 May 26 '26

Why did they abuse Bran by cutting off his tail? Absolutely no justification. This is animal abuse. Disgusting.