Weird Things Found In Airport Security

WEIRD THINGS MSSPORT FOUND IN AIRPORT SECURITY Almost all travelers have found themselves dealing with a little white lie about what they're bringing back when filling out their customs form on the retum trip home. We strongly advise our readers to adhere to all local laws and NEVER bring any banned item into a country, as there's probably a darm good reason not to. Not all "smugglers" are equal, however, and sometimes the risks do outweigh the pay-off. Sure, the average traveler might consider sneaking some butter in from Wales or chili's from Peru, and they might not even know about certain restrictions, like Israel's iPad ban, but every day some people try to get things far stranger through sometimes shady security and customs regulations at airports around the world. 1 A SEAL HEAD A biology professor flying into Denver was caught in 2004 trying to transport a severed harbor seal's head in his luggage. He said that he was aware of the need for a permit, and admit- ted he did not have one. The man faced penal- ties of up to $20,000 and one year in jail for swiping the head, which he supposedly planned to use for educational purposes. 2 A BAG OF BONES 62-year-old Italian woman's brother's dying wish was to be buried in his home land of Italy. Unfortu- nately, he died in Brazil. So she recruited a friend to go with her, bought a ticket to Brazil, dug up her brother II years after his death, and took his bones on the first flight back to Italy. When stopped in Munich en route to Naples, the couple of elderly friends were able to produce papers from Brazilian authorities proving authorization for the transport. So, Munich officials sent them on their way to Naples, along with the bag of bones. PLAYDOH OR PLASTIC EXPLOSIVES Security guards at the New Orleans airport tagged little Josh Pitney's post-Christmas Play- Doh stash a security threat. "Josh and I were sitting, getting our shoes on and, my husband kind of motioned to us and said - they took our Play-Doh," explains the tot's mom. Imagine the parents' dismay when they realized that, not only was their small child a terrorist suspect! 4 CROCODILES A Filipino man returning to his home country from Cambodia was found to be carrying three 1.5-foot-long Siamese crocodiles in his carry-on. He had claimed to be carrying fish in his bag - and maybe he was, before the crocs got to them. Officials were mystified as to how he was able to get the animals from Phnom Penh to Singapore before being apprehended in Manila. 5 PORNOGRAPHY XXX Back in 2008, Australian airport customs officials seized one passenger's copy of "Not the Bradys XXX." Their reason? It was "deemed to be offensive to moral standards of reasonable adults." The adult film is a spoof of the popular 1970s sitcom. Probably an awkward situation for all involved, the incident has highlighted concems of overzealous censorship inside the Australian Customs Service (ACS). what? 6 CAMEL COSTUME Carrying a camel costume through customs won't get you in trouble; stealing one out of a passenger's bag. however, will. Qantas passenger David Cox was shocked when, after boarding his flight, he caught a glimpse of a baggage handler parading around in his camel costume on the runway. "It's the kind of larikin thing that an Australian would do but given the cur- rent situation... it's obviously a poor decision," said Cox. ("Larrikinism" refers to an Australian tradition of irreverence and general hijinks.) shhh.. 7 STOWAWAY CAT One Canadian cat was able to slip by security and customs checks and the cat's owner says she was completely unaware of Ginger's presence in her bag until she had completed her trip from New Bruns- wick to Niagara-on-the-Lake. Confused officials had asked her during security screening whether she was carrying a turkey, but did not conduct a search. Ginger was allowed to fly back home in a cat carrier when the woman realized her mistake. 8. GI JOE Authorities at LAX averted a major security threat when they confiscated a semi-automatic rifle from a... GI Joe? The classic American action figure was packing heat - a tiny plastic replica rifle - that fell under guidelines banning repli- cas of weapons, according to the TSA. The English woman undergoing the seizure was flabbergasted when she real- ized that officials were serious, but had to see the lighter side of it later on. "Security examined the toy as if it was going to shoot them and looked at the rifle," she reports. GI JOE 9 SNAKE In India, a passenger was found carrying a snake in his carry-on baggage - after the plane had taken off. The flight departed Goa after all passengers had supposedly under- gone high-level security screening and x-rays. 10 MORE SNAKES FRAGILE In 2007, a man flying from South Korea to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Intemational Airport was found to be carying 30 dead but venomous snakes in jars in his checked luggage. 11 PUDDING One passenger's pudding was confiscated at a Sacramento International Airport security checkpoint. The sealed pack- age of pudding raised a red flag in the x-ray machine that brought on a hand search of the passenger's bag. The pud- dingless passenger was sent on their way a little more sullen, a little less optimistic about the future, but otherwise intact. On arriving at their destination, said passenger noticed that they had inadvertently brought a Swiss Army knife with a 4" locking blade in the same carry-on backpack as the pudding. It had gone unnoticed during the search. 12 CONTRABAND Forget the bundles of blood diamonds, cleverly concealed packages of narcotics, and herds of dried seahorses posted on the New York Daily News' collection of strange customs seizures; that is the stuff of everyday tedium for the average customs agent. More interesting finds include a flock of song- birds found strapped to a man's legs at LAX, live pigeons similarty stowed in tubes attached to the calves of an Australia-bound passenger, and a package of "bushmeat" (meat from wild animals, like antelope or monkeys) confis- cated at Newark Liberty Airport. Co.. 13 MISCELLANEOUS The New York Post reports on strange things found at airports around New York city. Among the 450 pounds of abandoned goods found each month at JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark airports are a startling variety of weapons and dangerous materials. Bats, bludgeons, and blackjacks top the list of New Yorkers' weapons of choice. Less harmful, yet somehow equally nefarious goods confiscated at security around New York include "10-point deer antlers, car parts, peace pipes, a kitchen sink, a grill, and even unwashed adult toys," according to the Post and the TSA. 14 BIRDS AND MONKEYS 50 orchids were only the first find by LAX security when they searched passenger Robert John Cusack on his way back from Indonesia in 2005. Upon opening Cusack's bags, security inadvertently released four rare birds into the airport terminal. When asked if he was carying anything else, Cusack admit- ted to having monkeys in his pants. chug! 15 BREAST MILK In 2002, a female passenger and mother was forced to gulp down breast milk she had attempted to bring in her carry-on. The woman foolishly expected to be able feed her baby during the flight, failing to take into account the efficiency of TSA secu- rity in rooting out dangerous substances, like... milk. The guard searching the mother refused her suggestion that she daub a little of the milk onto her forearm and taste it to prove that it wasn't a harmful substance. Instead, he instructed her to drink from each of the bottles she had brought in her carry-on. Here's the rub: this all went down before TSA regulations restricted liquids on planes at all. 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