Airport security, also known as the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), is responsible for screening passengers and their belongings before they board a flight.
No aircraft is permitted to take off or land without all travelers undergoing security checks and passing through designated screening devices. In a single day, security personnel handle hundreds, if not thousands, of passengers.
Although most luggage contains ordinary items, security officers occasionally come across bags with belongings no one would expect a traveler to carry whether they are dangerous, prohibited, or even contain living creatures.
With the continuous advancement of screening technologies and the use of state of the art devices that detect even the smallest details, it has become increasingly difficult for passengers attempting to travel with prohibited items to go unnoticed. Such attempts are typically detected during the initial security screening.
Craziest Things Ever Found by Airport Security – You Won’t Believe !
In 2005, everything at Melbourne Airport in Australia was running smoothly until it was time to screen a passenger named Naismith, who was en route to Singapore.
Her luggage appeared normal, with nothing suspicious at first glance. However, security officers noticed an unusual sound coming from her bags when moved, which raised their suspicions. Upon conducting a thorough inspection, they were in for a shocking discovery hidden beneath her dress were specially designed pockets resembling a portable fish tank.
These compartments were meticulously arranged, each containing plastic bags filled with water and, incredibly, a total of 51 live tropical fish. Even more astonishing, all the fish were healthy and swimming actively.
It was later revealed that these fish belonged to the endangered Asian Arowana species, valued at over $30,000. Since this species requires special permits for import and trade and the passenger had no official documentation she was charged with three offenses.
In the end, she was forced to pay a hefty fine and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
On March 2, 2019, during routine screenings at Berlin Airport, a 69-year-old passenger arrived from Cairo. Despite his calm appearance, which suggested he was a peaceful man, his story took an unexpected turn.
It turned out that the man was smuggling three Moroccan tortoises, a species protected under the International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). It was clear he had planned to sell them within Germany. What was particularly interesting was the clever method he used to conceal the tortoises—he placed them inside candy boxes from a well-known store, making it appear as though they were simply gifts for friends at the airport.
Thanks to this clever trick, he managed to pass several checkpoints without raising any suspicion. However, his luck ran out when he was stopped by border control officers, who began questioning him about the contents of the boxes. Upon opening them, his smuggling operation was exposed, and the tortoises were found inside.
As a result, the tortoises were confiscated, and the man was put on trial for violating species protection laws. The penalties for such offenses range from a fine of $50,000 to $55,000, along with a potential prison sentence of up to 5 years.
In 2011, an unusual incident occurred at Bangkok International Airport in Thailand during the inspection of luggage registered to a passenger arriving from Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. The screening devices detected strange creatures inside the bags, prompting a thorough check.
The surprise was that the passenger was smuggling crocodiles and turtles in his luggage. Three of the bags contained 451 turtles from various species, while the fourth bag held four small gharial crocodiles, a rare and endangered species.
What was particularly intriguing about the case was that the owner of the luggage was not present during the inspection, and the authorities were unable to apprehend him. The incident became known as the "Crocodile Smuggler Case," remaining one of the strangest animal smuggling attempts thwarted at the airport.
In 2010, an unusual incident took place at an airport, where a 31-year-old woman was among the passengers boarding a flight from Thailand to Iran.
However, the surprise wasn't her journey, but her attempt to smuggle something that would never have crossed anyone's mind a young tiger cub.
It seemed that the woman was planning to start an illegal trade, as she prepared a large suitcase filled with children's toys. She then hid the two-month-old tiger cub among the toys. Not only that, but she also fully sedated the cub, hoping to pass through the airport unnoticed, reach her destination, and sell the cub for a large sum of money.
However, her plan failed when airport security devices detected the contents of the suitcase, thwarting the entire operation. Instead of the money she hoped for, she was arrested and fined approximately $2,000.
The phrase "Take me with you in your suitcase when you travel" is often used jokingly with friends or family members who are about to travel. However, it seems that someone took it quite literally!
In a strange incident, a 42-year-old man from Ivory Coast attempted to smuggle his son into Spain through Morocco in an unimaginable way. The father lived in the Canary Islands, Spain, but wanted to illegally transport his son. He decided to pay a woman traveling to place the child inside a suitcase and take him with her.
However, during the first X-ray scan of the luggage, security officers detected something unusual inside the suitcase. Upon opening it, the surprise was revealed they found the child hiding inside, in a position that could have put his life in danger.
In a similar, yet even stranger incident, another case occurred at a Peru airport in South America, where a person attempted to smuggle his adult friend inside a suitcase. It seems the friend was extremely loyal to his companion and decided that he wouldn’t travel without him. So, he prepared a suitcase to fit his friend and placed him inside.
As expected, the plan did not go smoothly. The suitcase was flagged at the first checkpoint, and upon opening it, security discovered an adult man hiding inside. Thus, the journey ended before it even began, and the smuggling attempt was thwarted in a way that was both comical and dangerously reckless at the same time.
In a bizarre and shocking incident at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago in 2013, an unexpected discovery was made during the inspection of incoming and outgoing cargo. Security officials found a strange box among the shipments, and upon opening it, they were stunned to discover 18 human heads, severed, yet still retaining their flesh and fat.
The scene caused panic and raised numerous questions within the airport: Where were these boxes headed? And how did they end up here?
However, the mystery was quickly solved when it was revealed that the heads belonged to a research organization in Rome. They were supposed to be sent to a research facility near Chicago for scientific purposes. However, due to an administrative error in the paperwork, the shipment took the wrong route and ended up among regular cargo, leading to the major uproar.
In another incident at the same airport, this time intentionally, a passenger decided to cause a scare in a dangerous manner. He placed a fake bomb inside his luggage and managed to pass it through the security gates.
However, his trick didn’t last long. As soon as his bag passed through the X-ray scanner, the image of the bomb clearly appeared, prompting airport security to call in the bomb squad from the Chicago Police. This raised concerns of a potential evacuation and flight delays.
However, after a thorough examination, the bomb squad discovered that the device was not real but merely a fake toy. Of course, the young man did not escape the consequences. He was arrested, and legal action was taken against him for causing a public disturbance and endangering airport security.
Despite the danger in the following story, it was completely innocent and wasn’t intended to cause panic or put anyone at risk.
The story began when a diver was on an exploratory trip in the depths of the ocean and discovered a cannonball from a shipwreck dating back to the 18th century. For collectors of rare artifacts, owning such a historical piece is considered a once in a lifetime opportunity.
Therefore, the diver didn’t think twice and simply decided to take the cannonball home as a unique souvenir. He casually placed it in his bag and headed to the airport, unaware of the immense danger he was carrying.
However, at the security checkpoint, the situation was anything but normal. After a thorough inspection of the cannonball, the astonishing and terrifying surprise was revealed it was still live and could explode at any moment if exposed to heat or high pressure.
Immediately, the airport security management took urgent measures, including:
- Evacuating the entire baggage area.
- Cancelling three flights that were about to take off.
- Evacuating around 300 passengers from the airport to ensure everyone’s safety.
All of this happened because someone wanted to keep an old souvenir on their home shelf, turning what was meant to be a keepsake into a potential disaster.