Teen Attempts To Smuggle Friend In A Suitcase Amid Coronavirus Lockdown, Arrested

A teen in the Indian state of Mangalore attempted to sneak his friend into his apartment during the strict lockdown restrictions imposed in the country. This innovative trick was apparently his last resort to meet his friend after his apartment complex banned all the visitors amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Both the teen and his friend were nabbed and are scheduled to appear before the country’s Juvenile Justice Board, police said.

The 17-year-old unidentified youngster, piqued by the apartment association’s repeated refusal to grant his friend an entry, ventured out from his complex on a scooter with a suitcase and came back with his friend inside it around 2 a.m. (4:30 p.m. EST) on Sunday (April 12), local publication Deccan Herald reported.

The residents grew suspicious on seeing the captive wobble inside the suitcase every time it hit a bump. The security guards and the building association urged the teen to open the suitcase only to be shocked to see his friend step out of it. The teen’s family reportedly told police that he lives alone in the apartment. He apparently wanted his friend to live with him till the end of the lockdown.

The parents of both the teens were called to the spot and a case was registered against them. The incident sparked a social media meme fest shortly after breaking online.

“To what extent will you go to meet your friend during #lockdown?” one user said on Twitter. “Those friends thou hast and their adoption tried, Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel; But do not dull thy palm with entertainment. Of each new-hatch'd, unfledg'd comrade,” said another.

The nation was placed under lockdown on March 25, limiting movement of 1.3 billion of population, fearing the country could become the next global hotspot of COVID-19 considering many contributing factors. It was considered the most widespread measure taken by any government to halt the spread of the viral pandemic.

The total number of cases in India now stands at 9,240, with 331 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.