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Hello Kitty's true purpose exposed 凱蒂貓淪為毒販密差

High as a kite? A Hello Kitty balloon at the 81st Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City, Nov. 22, 2007. 御風而行？去年十一月二十二日舉辦的第八十一屆梅西百貨感恩遊行隊伍中，出現一隻凱蒂貓的大氣球飄在空中。 照片：法新社 PHOTO: AFP

Hello Kitty, the Japanese cartoon figure popular with teenagers around the world, was used by a notorious Colombian drug lord to hide messages to his minions, according to the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper.

Juan Carlos Ramirez Abadia, who is being held in Brazil after his arrest in August, hid voice and text messages digitally encoded into e-mailed images of the innocent feline, Brazilian police said.

Investigators say the disguised missives, hundreds of which were found on Abadia's computer, could put the narcotics kingpin up to his neck in kitty litter as some of them allegedly detail cocaine shipments between countries.

The newspaper said the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) broke the binary code containing the messages under the Hello Kitty images because Brazilian police lacked the necessary computer equipment.

It added the same technique of hiding messages in seemingly innocuous image files was used by Al-Qaeda to prepare the Sep. 11, 2001 attacks.

Abadia apparently picked Hello Kitty as his courier because his wife was a big fan of the Japanese icon - she had even decorated one of her rooms in a Brazilian house with Hello Kitty-themed chairs, watches and wallpaper.

Abadia, 44, is currently the subject of extradition proceedings requested by the US, which wants to try him on drug trafficking, money-laundering and murder charges.

The Colombian, who has previously been convicted in his own country for trafficking, is suspected to have headed the ultra-violent Valle del Norte cartel.

He is being kept in a high-security prison pending the verdict by Brazil's supreme court on the US extradition request.

(AFP)

據巴西聖保羅頁報報導，風靡全世界青少年的日本卡通人物凱蒂貓，被一個惡名昭彰的哥倫比亞大毒梟用來傳遞秘密訊息給他的下游藥頭。

巴西警方表示，瓊．卡洛斯．拉米雷茲．阿巴迪亞去年八月落網後就被收押在巴西；他把錄音和文字訊息經過數位編碼後，隱藏在天真可愛的凱蒂貓圖片中，再透過電子郵件發送出去。

調查員說，他們在阿巴迪亞的電腦中找到數百封這類偽裝書信，這堆信件一定讓這個大毒梟忙翻了，因為當中部份信件據說藏有跨國運送古柯鹼的細節。

報導指出，因為巴西警方缺乏所需的電腦設備，便借助美國緝毒局之力，破解了凱蒂貓圖片中的二進位制加密訊息。

報導還說，蓋達組織在策劃二００一年的九一一攻擊時，也是利用這種在看似無害的圖片中藏匿秘密訊息的方法。

阿巴迪亞會挑選凱蒂貓作為掩護，顯然是因為他的太太是這個日本偶像的大粉絲；她甚至在他們巴西的房子內，佈置了一間凱蒂貓房，裡面有凱蒂貓座椅、手錶和壁紙。

美國正積極要求引渡四十四歲的阿巴迪亞至美受審，期以毒品買賣、洗錢和謀殺等罪名將他起訴。

曾在祖國哥倫比亞因毒品買賣而被判刑的阿巴迪亞，疑為北河谷卡特爾暴力販毒組織的首腦。

阿巴迪亞目前收押在一所高度戒護的監獄中，等待巴西最高法院針對美方提出的引渡要求做出裁定。

（法新社／翻譯：袁星塵）

TODAY'S WORLDS 今日單字 1. minion n. 下屬 (xia4 shu3) 例: Sarah travels with a pack of minions . (莎拉到哪兒旅行都帶著一幫手下。) 2. binary code n. 二進位制碼 (er4 jin4 wei4 zhi4 ma3) 例: The spies used binary code to communicate . (間諜用二進位制碼來傳遞訊息。) 3. innocuous adj. 無害的 (wu2 hai4 de5)，平淡乏味的 (ping2 dan4 fa2 wei4 de5) 例: The seemingly innocuous toy actually held several top secret computer chips . (那個看來平凡無奇的玩具其實內含若干極機密的電腦晶片。) 4. extradition n. 引渡 (yin3 du4) 例: Henry was threatened with extradition . (亨利面臨引渡的威脅。)

SAY WHAT?說說看 kingpin 主要人物 The expression kingpin comes from 10-pin bowling. It refers to the central most forward pin in the set up. Informally it refers to the most important person or chief in an organization. Marvel comics first showed a character named Kingpin who was a supervillain. He first appeared in the 50th issue of the The Amazing Spider-man. Other similar expressions are the big cheese, the top dog and the head honcho. 「kingpin」這個字源於十瓶保齡球中最前排中央的球瓶。「kingpin」也可以用來形容一個組織中最重要的人，或是組織內的領袖，但這說法並不正式。 以「Kingpin」為名的大反派角色首見於驚奇漫畫《蜘蛛人》系列第五十期。 其他意義類似的說法還有「big cheese」、「top dog」和「head honcho」。

OUT LOUD 對話練習 Mike: Did you hear about Hello Kitty being a drug trafficker? Kate: I always knew there was something more to that cartoon than met the eye. Well that explains it. Mike: Explains what? Kate: I always assumed that those people in their 20s and 30s who were into Hello Kitty must have something else going on. Mike: Beyond just liking to appear childlike, vulnerable and cute? Kate: I was thinking that actually they're all secret junkies, but you're probably right. 麥可：你聽說有人用凱蒂貓來從事毒品交易嗎？ 凱特：我總覺得這個凱蒂貓的可愛之下藏著些什麼，原來如此啊。 麥可：原來什麼啊？ 凱特：看到那些二、三十歲的人還那麼迷凱蒂貓，我老覺得有鬼。 麥可：除了裝天真、無辜和可愛之外嗎？ 凱特：我原本以為這些人其實都在秘密販毒，不過我想你大概是對的。 more ... than meets the eye　人不可貌相 If there is more than meets the eye to something then there is something important about it that isn't immediately obvious. 如果用「more than meets the eye」形容某事，表示該事背後還有無法立刻察覺的重要東西。

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