10 Bizarre Things People Tried to Sneak Onto Airplanes

Security examinations before boarding a flight are usually considered to be an odious process. We may shake our heads at the security officials holding us up at the airport, but actually, it is a very important step considering security officials often discover illegal items such as firearms, drugs, and even live animals inside people’s luggage. Here are ten such bizarre things people tried to sneak onto airplanes.

1. Tiger Cub

A passenger was caught at an airport in Thailand while trying to smuggle a three-month-old tiger cub. It was drugged and kept in a suitcase among other stuffed toys.

In 2010, officials at Suvarnabhumi Airport, Thailand were surprised when the baggage scan showed an item resembling a real cat in a passenger’s bag. After opening the bag, they found a live but sedated tiger cub along with other soft toys. The owner of the bag, a 31-year-old Thai national, was planning to smuggle the three-month-old cub to Iran.

2. Dead Person

Two women tried to smuggle their dead relative’s body onto a flight by putting him in a wheelchair and putting sunglasses on him. It was only when airport staff tried to check him in and he wouldn’t respond that suspicions were raised

Old people being taken to the plane in a wheelchair is an everyday occurrence at the airport. So, when two women were seen checking 91-year-old Curt Willi Jarant in a wheelchair at Liverpool’s John Lennon Airport, there was nothing suspicious. But the staff became alerted when they asked him some questions but got no response. Upon checking, they found out that the person sitting in the wheelchair was actually dead. Upon asking the two women, his widow and step-daughter, they said that they thought he was asleep. They were arrested on suspicion of failing to give notification of a death.

3. Crocodile

In 2010, a man smuggled a crocodile on board a plane in his suitcase. During the flight, the crocodile freed itself and panicked the passengers who all ran towards the flight deck. This caused the plane to become unbalanced and crash. The only survivors were one person and the crocodile.

On 25 August 2010, a plane was on a routine flight from Kinshasa to Bandundu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The plane was just a few hundred feet from its destination when suddenly it crashed, even though there were no technical problems. Only one person survived the crash.

The person who survived the crash told the bizarre tale to investigators. The crash was caused by a crocodile who also survived the crash. It was in the bag of one of the passengers, but somehow it escaped and reached the cabin. When passengers saw a live crocodile in the cabin, they got frightened. The terrified air hostesses hurried towards the cockpit followed by the passengers throwing the aircraft out of balance. The pilot struggled in vain with the controls, but the plane crashed into a house.

4. Cannon Barrel

An unloaded cannon barrel was discovered by the Transportation Security Administration in a passenger’s checked item at Kahului Airport.

While checking bags for a departing flight from Kahului Airport in Hawaii, TSA workers found a strange weapon in one of the checked bags: the barrel of a cannon. The cannon barrel wasn’t loaded. According to the TSA, the passenger was cleared to fly, but the airline made separate arrangements for transporting the cannon barrel.

5. Snakes

A Malaysian named Anson Wong tried to smuggle 95 snakes on a plane from Penang to Jakarta. He almost had succeeded when suddenly his baggage containing the snakes burst open.

On 26 August 2010, a man walked into Kuala Lumpur airport in order to board a flight to Indonesia. The man, Anson Wong, is also known as the “Lizard King” due to his long history as a smuggler of exotic animals. In the Kuala Lumpur Airport, he kept his suitcase on the baggage carousel when suddenly it broke open. Inside the bag were 95 live boa constrictors along with two vipers and a turtle. He was immediately arrested. Later he was sentenced to six months in jail and a fine of $61,000.

6. Cocaine

A Chilean man tried to smuggle drugs into Barcelona in the form of a cast made of cocaine fitted on a truly broken leg. In another case, a passenger tried to smuggle cocaine by making suitcases out of it.

In another case, a 24-year-old woman bound for Spain was arrested by police when they discovered that the suitcases she was carrying were made of cocaine. Upon inspection, it was found that the suitcases were made from a mixture of pure cocaine and plastic. The cocaine, which was later extracted by authorities using a chemical process, was reported to have weighed up to 15 kilos.

7. Humming Birds

In 2011, authorities at a French airport saw a passenger acting suspiciously and detained him. Upon inspection, they found more than a dozen live humming birds in special pouches in his underwear.

When a Dutch traveler was seen fidgeting excessively at Rochambeau Airport in Cayenne, French Guiana, the authorities pulled him aside and decided to search him. Upon removing his trousers, they discovered an unusual cargo. There were special pouches in his underwear containing more than a dozen live humming birds. The birds were individually wrapped in cloth and taped up to prevent them from escaping.

8. Nun’s Skeleton

A Cypriot monk was caught at a Greek airport with the skeletal remains of a nun in his baggage. He told authorities he was taking the relics of a saint back to his monastery.

In 2011, a 42-year-old Cypriot monk and two other people were detained at Athens airport when a skull and bones were discovered in the monk’s luggage. The monk claimed that it was the skeletal remains of a saint, and he was going to bury it in Cyprus. According to the police, the skeletal remnants actually belonged to Elena Vathiadou, a former nun who died four years ago. The three were charged with theft and desecrating a deceased person.

9. Turtles

In 2014, a man was arrested when he tried to smuggle more than 1,000 turtles to China. Two years later, a person disguised his pet turtle as KFC burger so that he could sneak it through airport security at an airport in China.

A Canadian man was arrested at a Detroit, Michigan airport in 2014 when he was trying to board a plane to Shanghai with more 1,007 turtles. He had stuffed the turtles into rubber snow boots and cereal boxes inside his luggage.

In 2016, another man was arrested while attempting to smuggle his pet turtle through airport security by disguising it as a KFC burger. He had hidden the turtle in a sesame seed bun and packaged it in KFC paper. The staff spotted the animal when the X-ray scanner showed some “odd protrusions” from the fast food wrapper.

10. Giant African Snails

67 Giant African snails were discovered inside a passenger’s luggage at Los Angeles International Airport. They were confiscated by the officials as giant snails are prohibited in U.S.

While in some countries snails are served as a delicacy, they are banned in U.S. for fear of carrying parasites harmful to humans, including one that can lead to meningitis. So, in 2014, when an unusually slimy package of 67 live snails was being sent from Nigeria to California, inspectors at LA International Airport seized it. After inspection, the U.S. Department of Agriculture incinerated the whole package.

Source : factsc.com