Shawarma, Toilets & Tea: The Wildest Smuggling Stories from the Arab World
Smuggling attempts are nothing new. We hear about them all the time, whether it is gold getting smuggled on flights or money discreetly crossing borders.
Sometimes though, smuggling attempts can be surprising and unexpected. The level of creativity involved in some attempts, despite the act being wrong, deserves recognition. These are our top picks in the Arab world:
Shawerma Anyone?
Probably the most recent attempt that has been getting a lot of recognition is one that involved succulent chicken shawarma sandwiches. Yeah, you heard that right.
During a routine security check at the Cairo International Airport, a traveler’s bag was inspected by authorities, where they ended up finding 1,253,000 EGP hidden within shawarma sandwiches as a way to mislead security.
Buckle Up
Sometimes concealing means transforming what you want to smuggle into something that wouldn’t arouse suspicion. That was the tactic used by two passengers back in September 2022. They were traveling through the Dubai airport while attempting to smuggle gold worth Dh500,000 ($136,150) into the Emirates.
To do so, they melted down 2.3 kilograms of 24-carat gold and remoulded them to look like belt buckles. They then painted the metal to camouflage the buckles before they took them on the plane.
Their attempts proved in vain against the airport’s security, “The bag was X-rayed, showing density variation. After a thorough examination, we discovered that all the buckles in the bag were made of pure gold, and they were painted in a different color as a means of camouflage.”
Code Brown, Code Brown!
We have to give it to smugglers: you will probably never meet such persistent individuals as these expert concealers of money, gold, and more. One of the most notable attempts at gold smuggling involves a rather unconventional method. Things are about to get a little gross, so if you’re easily squeamish, we advise you to skip this section.
Four years ago, a passenger traveling from Dubai to the Kannur International Airport in Kerala, India, attempted to smuggle about a kilo of gold by hiding it in a place he thought no one would dare look, his rectum.
He managed to hide 972 grams of four flattened pieces of gold up his rectum while a second man onboard hid another 1.47 kilos of gold. Both were caught by authorities.
It’s Tea Time
In Syria, there is a popular green tea known as Mate that gives you a nice caffeine kick. In the case of the smuggling story we are going to tell you now, we wouldn’t advise steeping these particular tea bags in your hot water.
In two major drug busts by Saudi police, millions of amphetamine pills hidden within packets of Mate green tea were uncovered. It was yet again another example of the concealment tactic going wrong.
Toilet Treasure
When you need to go do your business, it is a private matter and everyone knows it. Toilets are a one-person show and that is what makes them the perfect spot to hide your loot.
Way back in 2016, an entire kilogram of gold was found wrapped in newspapers and hidden behind a tissue box holder in the lavatory of a flight traveling from Dubai to India.
That very gold was found by the crew chief who checked the lavatory because of suspicious behavior by one particular passenger who kept going to the lavatory. The other passengers also heard noises of the compartment being opened and closed in the lavatory when that particular passenger was inside.
Creative, hilarious, and unexpected, these smuggling stories showcase the lengths people would take to cross their loot despite the odds.
