A gang of fuel thieves in Laverton, Western Australia, attempted to siphon diesel from a parked tourist coach overnight, only to discover the next morning that they had actually drained the vehicle’s sewage tank. The incident, which took place in the remote outback town roughly 950 kilometers northeast of Perth, came to light when Laverton Police found a discarded tank cap lying on the ground beside the bus, with no fuel missing. Investigators pieced together that the offenders had mistaken the waste tank for the fuel tank in the dark, and since siphoning requires drawing liquid up through a hose by mouth, at least one of them would have gotten a mouthful of sewage rather than diesel before fleeing the scene. Senior Sergeant Heath Soutar of Laverton Police said the lack of any stolen fuel, combined with the abandoned cap, told the story of how the theft went wrong. “We can infer they beat a very hasty retreat, with a somewhat bitter taste in their mouth,” he said. Soutar added that officers were still looking for the offenders but had little interest in recovering any stolen property, since nothing of value had actually been taken, and joked that police were relying on “word of mouth” to help identify those responsible. No suspects have been identified or arrested in connection with the incident, and the case remains one of the more unusual entries in the region’s police records. - @justmeoregon