Harry Potter and The Case of the Stolen Book

Posted on June 4, 2005

Two British men are in big trouble with the authorities, after being arrested for trying to sell a purloined copy of the new Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince to the tabloids.

Police were called to an address in Kettering in central England on Friday after reports of a shot being fired.
The Sun newspaper said the incident came as the men tried to sell one of its reporters a stolen copy of Harry Potter And the Half-Blood Prince for 50,000 pounds ($90,880). Northamptonshire police confirmed two men from Kettering had been charged in connection with the incident. "A 37-year-old has been charged with possession of an offensive weapon and handling a stolen book," a police spokesman said. "A 19-year-old man has been charged with the theft of the book and a possession of an imitation firearm intending to cause fear of violence."

The Sun claims the moral high ground, stating that it intended to obtain the book in order to keep it off the market. The story is interesting more for what it fails to report than what it does report. Was it a sting gone awry? Who shot the gun? Did the deal go south and someone came out guns blazing over the stolen book?

The police report that the book is "safely in their hands," which probably means that some lucky British police are the first to read the book -- long before its July 16th release.