Weird Sneaks
January 26th is International Customs Day. Despite clear instructions of what not to bring, and also are & are not allowed to be carry during travel. Customs agents continue to confiscate countless items. Here are six of the stranger ones:
Cannonballs
Airport staff had to evacuate 200 passengers when they found a cannonball that a diver had found when exploring a wreck and then decided to take home with them as a souvenir.
A killer lipstick
A passenger from Vermont was found to be carrying what looks to be a lipstick. But in reality it was really a 350,000 volt paralyzing pistol, that ain’t shaped like one.
A Chastity belt
This unusual item was found on an English woman at Athens Airport; her husband insisted she wear it to ensure she didn’t cheat on him during her vacation.
Illegal Pork Meat Tamales
Foreign meat products can carry serious animal diseases; and are thus banned from being brought to other countries than the ones they originated from; nevertheless, 450 prohibited pork meat tamales were once seized from a Mexican passenger at Los Angeles Airport.
Monkeys
After customs officials noticed a man acting nervously—and with an unusual bulge under his shirt- and searched him, they discovered he had somehow managed to don a girdle containing 18 endangered miniature titi monkeys.
A sarcophagus
Discovered in Miami after arriving via container shipment from Spain. It was promptly returned to Egypt—from where it had been stolen 125 years earlier.
This article is deliberately short. It was meant to be a simple overview of the variety of objects that have been confiscated by the world’s customs officials. I’ll likely be writing more of these lists in the future, and they’ll probably be themed; drug dealers are some of the most creative people in the world when it comes to smuggling methods.
