Geartwinkles -- Yesterday's investigation by the Royal Guard uncovered a massive smuggling ring operating out of the city's market. Twenty-one dwarves were charged with conspiring to sell figurines; a direct violation of King Phrasehall's recent ban on figurine exports. The accused included the Manager and the newest member of the Royal Guard, as well as several craftsdwarves highly-regarded both in their fields and the community.
When informed of the violation of his Royal Mandate, King Phrasehall stripped the conspirators of all titles and holdings and ordered them detained to await his judgement and sentencing. Because a member of the Royal Guard was among the accused, the City Guard was selected to carry out the arrests. We spoke with Captain Weatherfountains this morning:
"We moved as soon as we got the list from the King's steward last night -- we were hoping if we caught them by surprise, we could make the arrests without any bloodshed. Unfortunately, all of them resisted arrest, and they had to be beat into submission."
When asked why unarmed, sleeping dwarves would resist the steel-clad City Guard, Weatherfountains had no comment.
The Chief Medical Dwarf confirmed that ten smugglers had been killed during the arrests, and an eleventh was not expected to live through the night. The remaining criminals are in the hospital in various conditions. The former Manager is predicted to recover, however he has fully lost the use of his legs.
King Phrasehalls will speak on these events this evening in Royal Hall. It is rumored that he will pardon the condemned, as their labor is needed on the upcoming Deep Road expansion project.
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Topic: Twenty-one Dwarves Arrested on Smuggling Charges (Read 1991 times)