Someone tried to steal fuel from a tour bus parked overnight in a small Australian town.
But when police checked the vehicle, the fuel had apparently been left alone.
Instead, the cap from the bus's sewage tank had been removed and discarded nearby.
Officers suspected that would-be thieves had mistaken the waste tank for the fuel tank—and may have received the most unpleasant surprise imaginable.
A Tourist Bus Was Targeted Overnight
The unusual incident came to light in January 2016 in Laverton, a remote town in Western Australia's Goldfields region.
A visiting tour bus had been parked overnight when someone apparently tried to take fuel from it.
By the next day, signs of tampering had drawn police attention.
Laverton Police Senior Sergeant Heath Soutar described the attempted theft to the Kalgoorlie Miner on January 16, 2016.
But this was not an ordinary case of missing petrol.
The Thieves Apparently Opened the Wrong Tank
Investigators found a discarded cap that appeared to come from the bus's waste tank.
Meanwhile, the fuel remained in place.
Those observations led officers to believe the would-be thieves had tried to siphon petrol but mistakenly accessed the tank holding sewage from the bus's toilet.
A large tourist coach can contain several separate storage compartments. Its toilet waste system is not connected to its fuel supply.
Police suspected that whoever tampered with the vehicle had confused the two.
The result became a story that quickly attracted international attention.
Police Suspected a Very Unpleasant Surprise
Siphoning sometimes involves drawing liquid through a hose to start its flow.
That is why the suspected mistake led to an especially unpleasant possibility: someone might have tasted sewage instead of petrol.
However, there is an important distinction between what police found and what they inferred.
Officers reported signs of interference with the waste tank and no stolen fuel. They did not publicly identify an eyewitness who saw a thief swallow sewage.
The widely shared account of a thief getting a mouthful of human waste came from the police's interpretation of the scene.
Senior Sergeant Soutar joked that the suspects had likely made a hurried departure with an unpleasant taste.
His remarks added humor to an otherwise routine report of attempted theft.
The Police Response Made Headlines
Soutar said officers were interested in finding the people responsible for tampering with the bus.
But they were decidedly less interested in recovering anything taken from its waste tank.
He joked that police had “absolutely zero interest” in tracking down the stolen goods.
He also suggested that local information might help solve the case, using a playful reference to “word of mouth.”
Laverton Police shared the incident publicly, and the Western Australia Police Force joined the lighthearted discussion online.
The unusual combination of attempted theft, sewage and police humor soon drew attention far beyond the town.
Why the Story Spread Around the World
The original local report was published on January 16, 2016.
Within days, newspapers and websites in other countries were recounting the incident.
Some headlines stated definitively that the thieves had swallowed sewage.
Yet the contemporary local report was more cautious. It described an attempted theft and the evidence police discovered, rather than a firsthand account of exactly what happened to the offenders.
The distinction matters, even in a humorous story.
Police had reason to suspect the wrong tank had been opened. But the most dramatic details remained unverified.
Was Anyone Arrested?
Initial reports said police were still looking for those responsible.
The available contemporary coverage did not identify any suspect or confirm an arrest.
Nor did it establish precisely how many people took part.
Although later retellings often describe a group of thieves, the original reporting left open whether one person or several were involved.
What was clear was that the vehicle's fuel had not been stolen.
An Attempted Theft With an Unexpected Ending
Most stories about fuel theft concern lost money, damaged vehicles or criminal charges.
This one became famous because police believed the suspects had made a particularly embarrassing mistake.
Whether anyone actually tasted the bus's sewage remains unknown.
Still, the evidence found beside the vehicle was enough to inspire one of the strangest police reports of 2016.
Someone apparently went looking for free fuel. Instead, police found evidence that the bus's toilet waste tank had been opened.
Editor's note: This is a historical incident from January 2016, not a new event. The accompanying social-media illustration is AI-generated and is not documentary footage. Claims that a thief swallowed sewage are based on police inference, not a confirmed eyewitness account.
Sources: Kalgoorlie Miner — original report, January 16, 2016; Jalopnik — examination of the evidence, January 29, 2016; WDBO — January 22, 2016 report.