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Swiss Internet 'Pervert' Melonpan's 66 Pounds of Dōjin Confiscated by Customs

A Swiss man found himself in a precarious situation when he attempted to return to his home country from Comiket with 66 pounds of adult manga. The otaku in question is "Melonpan," a rather well-known internet personality whose claim to fame includes plastering a men's restroom with posters of Yudachi Kai Ni from Kan Colle and posting pictures of himself dressed as Hestia while posing suggestively with his television, as well as other antics. His latest run-in with internet fame is no joke, though.

Melonpan traveled to this summer's Comiket event with big dreams. While there he purchased 30 kilograms of dōjinshi. He could not pack such a heavy prize into his luggage, so he opted instead to ship it home to Switzerland from Japan. When he arrived back in Europe, Melonpan was notified that Swiss customs had seized his package. By Melonpan's own account, most of the dōjinshi he mailed was loli hentai. Authorities required to him to report to customs about his dōjinshi.

Melonpan's further tweets suggest he wasn't having much luck explaining his situation to customs agents. He wrote that it was time for him to move to Japan and he bid Switzerland farewell, however on August 18 he shared images of his original box of hentai on his desk at home, having won over customs agents and allowed to bring his purchase into the country.

Melonpan lost his job just a few months ago after his employer at Swiss bank UBS discovered his Twitter posting history, including comedic, albeit nude, pictures of himself. He was able to find gainful employment with the shipping company DHL within about a month, only to be fired on his first day of work.

His fear of possible legal repercussions for possession of hentai depicting underage characters isn't unfounded. American Christopher Handley was sentenced to six months in prison for possessing manga "drawings of children being sexually abused" in 2010. The material was discovered by U.S. Post Office officials after Handley purchased them online and had them shipped to his residence.

Other cases where possession of hentai materials have led to criminal prosecution have appeared in Quebec, New Zealand, and Australia. Both Russia and the Philippines have introduced legislation banning hentai depicting minors.

Thanks to Config Space for the news tip

Source: Sora News 24 (Casey Baseel), Otaku USA Magazine (Julian Gnam), Melonpan's Twitter account (NSFW)