# Ugandan news: robbers used cholorformed breasts to subdue victims. BS?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugandan-news-robbers-used-cholorformed-breasts-to-subdue-victims-bs/475259
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [December 1, 2008, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugandan-news-robbers-used-cholorformed-breasts-to-subdue-victims-bs/475259 "2008-12-01T23:10:08Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2008, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugandan-news-robbers-used-cholorformed-breasts-to-subdue-victims-bs/475259/1 "2008-12-01T23:10:08Z")
[Here](http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20081128/tod-ugandan-men-warned-of-booby-trap-879dccc.html) is a news story claiming that a gang of robbers in Uganda has
> [@](#):
>
> …been using women with chloroform smeared on their chests to knock their victims unconscious.
>
> “They apply this chemical to their chest. We have found victims in an unconscious state,” Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID) spokesman Fred Enanga told AFP.
>
> “You find the person stripped totally naked and everything is taken from him,” he said. “And the victim doesn’t remember anything. He just remembers being in the act of romancing.”
>
> Enanga, who explained that several types of heavy sedatives had been used, said he first came across the practice last year when an apprehended thief named Juliana Mukasa made a clean breast of the matter.
The only references I can find online seem to be the same story. I’m skeptical for three reasons:
[ol]
[li]This sounds suspiciously like the “chloroform perfume” hoax that goes around now and then.[/li][li]Wouldn’t the sedative affect the woman wearing it?[/li][li]The “clean breast” joke might be a journalist trying to be funny, or it might be a key to the satire.[/li][/ol]
I doubt there’s a GQ answer to this, so I’m dropping it in IMHO. Anybody have a read on this? BS or real?
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### Author:  [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2008, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugandan-news-robbers-used-cholorformed-breasts-to-subdue-victims-bs/475259/2 "2008-12-01T23:43:08Z")
I volunteer to work with female Dopers ( 😃 ) in an experimental attempt to replicate the results under identical conditions!
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### Author:  [@Natch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Natch)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2008, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugandan-news-robbers-used-cholorformed-breasts-to-subdue-victims-bs/475259/3 "2008-12-01T23:43:32Z")
So, victims wake up without any mammary of where their stuff went?
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### Author:  [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)
#### Post date: [December 1, 2008, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugandan-news-robbers-used-cholorformed-breasts-to-subdue-victims-bs/475259/4 "2008-12-01T23:55:55Z")
This method was used in the [pilot episode of CSI](http://www.tv.com/csi/pilot/episode/2909/summary.html?tag=ep_guide;ep_title;0).
It doesn’t prove anything (except the [actress was gorgeous](http://uk.images.search.yahoo.com/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fuk.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%3Fei%3DUTF-8%26p%3Dkrista%2Ballen%2Bpictures%26rd%3Dr1&w=512&h=600&imgurl=www.catatonicfilms.com%2FPics%2Fkrista_allen%2Fimages%2Fkrista44_jpg.jpg&size=39.6kB&name=krista44_jpg.jpg&rcurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.catatonicfilms.com%2FPics%2Fkrista_allen%2Fpages%2Fkrista44_jpg.htm&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.catatonicfilms.com%2FPics%2Fkrista_allen%2Fpages%2Fkrista44_jpg.htm&p=krista+allen&type=jpeg&no=2&tt=798&oid=8f078dfaeedc445a&tit=krista44_jpg.jpg&sigr=126up6vmq&sigi=120l5fm30&sigb=1280pupol) 🙂 ).
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### Author:  [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2008, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugandan-news-robbers-used-cholorformed-breasts-to-subdue-victims-bs/475259/5 "2008-12-02T00:18:44Z")
If you have chloroform smeared on your chest, won’t it knock _you_ out?
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### Author:  [@cher3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cher3)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2008, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugandan-news-robbers-used-cholorformed-breasts-to-subdue-victims-bs/475259/6 "2008-12-02T00:25:56Z")
If chloroform is anything like, say, ether, not only might it make the wearer a bit dizzy, at the least, it would have a very strong, unpleasant smell.
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2008, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugandan-news-robbers-used-cholorformed-breasts-to-subdue-victims-bs/475259/7 "2008-12-02T01:19:22Z")
Moving thread from IMHO to General Questions.
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### Author:  [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2008, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugandan-news-robbers-used-cholorformed-breasts-to-subdue-victims-bs/475259/8 "2008-12-02T01:26:44Z")
I have heard this but not with chloroform but with something you have to lick.
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### Author:  [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2008, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugandan-news-robbers-used-cholorformed-breasts-to-subdue-victims-bs/475259/9 "2008-12-02T01:55:31Z")
Chloroform is a volitile liquid, so it wont stay on the breast very long after putting it there. It takes a pretty large dose of chloroform to knock someone out. I suppose they could soak their bras in chloroform and shove their victims face in it, but I don’t think casually breathing chloroform fumes is likely to knock you out. I’ve smelled plenty of chloroform and not even felt dizzy. Soaking a cloth with it then forcing the victim to breath through the cloth is another thing. I have no idea how well that workes.
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### Author:  [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2008, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugandan-news-robbers-used-cholorformed-breasts-to-subdue-victims-bs/475259/10 "2008-12-02T02:13:30Z")
Anyone know the upcoming issue of _National Geographic_ this story will appear, complete with photos? 😃
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### Author:  [@G1llyB4tes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G1llyB4tes)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2008, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugandan-news-robbers-used-cholorformed-breasts-to-subdue-victims-bs/475259/11 "2008-12-02T02:19:05Z")
This just proves that it really pays to stay abreast of these developments…
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### Author:  [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2008, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugandan-news-robbers-used-cholorformed-breasts-to-subdue-victims-bs/475259/12 "2008-12-02T03:04:10Z")
This brings a whole new meaning to [“discussing Ugandan affairs”](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22discussing+Ugandan+affairs%22&start=0&sa=N).
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### Author:  [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2008, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugandan-news-robbers-used-cholorformed-breasts-to-subdue-victims-bs/475259/13 "2008-12-02T03:09:42Z")
I’ll have to go with a big dose of scepticism myself. I’ve smell chloroform once in a chemistry class and there’s nothing subtle about it. You can’t get a big enough snootfull to be effective and not suspect there was something up.
I do recall a few years ago some similar stories where a woman would apply eyedrops to her nips and entice her victim to lick them, rendering him unconscious. Yes, there is a chemical in some drops that will do that. I can’t find links to those stories, but I did find a few similar.
[Link](http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=vn20070804085657716C874295)
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### Author:  [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2008, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugandan-news-robbers-used-cholorformed-breasts-to-subdue-victims-bs/475259/14 "2008-12-02T03:13:35Z")
> [@](#):
>
> “You find the person stripped totally naked and everything is taken from him,”
Does everything include his [man bits](http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSN2319603620080423) :eek:
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### Author:  [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2008, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugandan-news-robbers-used-cholorformed-breasts-to-subdue-victims-bs/475259/15 "2008-12-02T13:27:16Z")
Ah, the African 44D scam.
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### Author:  [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2008, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugandan-news-robbers-used-cholorformed-breasts-to-subdue-victims-bs/475259/16 "2008-12-02T13:41:13Z")
> [@glee](#):
>
> This method was used in the [pilot episode of CSI](http://www.tv.com/csi/pilot/episode/2909/summary.html?tag=ep_guide;ep_title;0).
According to that website, the CSI plot used Scopolamine. It looks like that would have the desired effect at a very small dose (I saw 300 micrograms in one of the references). I didn’t have the strength to wade through the entire single-paragraph plot summary on that site, but I couldn’t tell if the CSI plot was that the drug was inhaled or ingested by licking the woman. In either case, one of the perpetrators does show up unconscious and wind up in the hospital due to exposure to the stuff.
> [@sailor](#):
>
> I have heard this but not with chloroform but with something you have to lick.
This makes slightly more sense. I guess the woman could apply it to her skin just before getting in bed with the guy. According to [this](http://www.bu.edu/police/prevention/rohypnol_fact_sheet.htm) site, just 1 mg of Rohypnol can do the trick. It comes in a pill, though, as far as I know. I guess the attacker could grind one up in some kind of sticky substance and apply it to her chest. I’d still be skeptical, but that seems slightly more plausible.
> [@cher3](#):
>
> If chloroform is anything like, say, ether, not only might it make the wearer a bit dizzy, at the least, it would have a very strong, unpleasant smell.
> [@WarmNPrickly](#):
>
> Chloroform is a volitile liquid, so it wont stay on the breast very long after putting it there. It takes a pretty large dose of chloroform to knock someone out.
Right. Is the guy going to mistake the chloroform/whatever for a particularly alluring purfume? I would think he’d recognize something was amiss, and at the very least avert his face.
Even if there is some way this scheme could work, why would the attacker go to all that trouble? Why not just spike his drink? Or, if it is a “gang” of robbers, wht not take the guy to her bedroom where an accomplice whaps him upside the head? I’m still calling bullshit.
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### Author:  [@Kuboydal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kuboydal)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2008, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugandan-news-robbers-used-cholorformed-breasts-to-subdue-victims-bs/475259/17 "2008-12-02T13:55:34Z")
When travelling to Ecuador I read of a similar scheme involving borracchero, a relative of our morning glory, which is a source of scopalamine. The method described was similar to his one but, try as I might, I was never picked up and robbed at a bar.
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### Author:  [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2008, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugandan-news-robbers-used-cholorformed-breasts-to-subdue-victims-bs/475259/18 "2008-12-02T17:13:10Z")
> [@Bayard](#):
>
> I would think he’d recognize something was amiss, and at the very least avert his face.
No, I think most of us would take our chances. 😉
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### Author:  [@Omegaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omegaman)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2008, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugandan-news-robbers-used-cholorformed-breasts-to-subdue-victims-bs/475259/19 "2008-12-02T19:11:45Z")
I guess in this case being on the tit takes an ugly turn.
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### Author:  [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2008, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ugandan-news-robbers-used-cholorformed-breasts-to-subdue-victims-bs/475259/20 "2008-12-02T19:29:08Z")
“That’s why I never kiss 'em on the boob.” \
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