Illegal, odd, and intercepted

These items smuggled at customs are more bizarre than you'd expect

We've all been there: standing in the customs line, heart beating a little faster than usual, even when we’ve got nothing to hide. What you don’t know is that the day-to-day reality of the border agent’s booth is far more eccentric: from 500-pound stashes of Mexican bologna to turtles taped to someone's legs, customs officers deal with a plethora of weird contraband on a regular basis. Buckle up and read on to know some of the strangest customs stories.

This one comes straight out of Texas, where everything really is bigger – apparently, including the nerve of some travelers. On February 7, 2021, CBP officers discovered over 500 pounds of prohibited pork bologna hidden under the floorboards and seats of a Chevy Silverado, trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border. Pork products from Mexico are banned because they can carry serious animal diseases.

Five hundred pounds is roughly the weight of three adult black bears, all in cold cuts. We have many questions, starting with: what exactly was the plan once it got through?

In 2014, a man crossing from Canada into the United States thought he had come up with the perfect plan: stuff over 50 live turtles under his baggy sweatpants, taped directly to his legs, and just... walk through. Spoiler alert: it didn't work. A customs officer noticed some unusual bulges that were moving on their own.

It turns out that turtles, bless their little hearts, are not great at playing it cool. Wildlife smuggling is a serious federal offense, and this gentleman learned that lesson the hard way.

On January 27, 2016, major safety concerns arose over reports of fires starting in some self-balancing hoverboards. A few days later, CBP seized 445 hoverboards with counterfeit trademarks and fake, potentially dangerous, batteries from the Port of Norfolk, Virginia.

The seized hoverboard shipment had a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of more than $171,000.

Customs officials stopped a woman in 2005 when she arrived in Melbourne off a flight from Singapore. There, they found 51 live tropical fish in plastic bags tucked into a custom-made apron tied around her waist.

During the search, customs officers became suspicious after hearing 'flipping' noises coming from the vicinity of her waist," the Australian Customs Service said in a press release. She was ultimately sentenced to nine months in the community after pleading guilty to attempting to import regulated wildlife under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.

In 2019, a mail truck was caught attempting to bring ancient Egyptian mummy linen at Blue Water Bridge, linking Port Huron, Michigan, and Point Edward, Canada. These are actual strips of cloth from mummified remains, thousands of years old. Beyond being illegal to remove from Egypt, they can also carry ancient organic material that raises both legal and health concerns.

CBP officers have seen it all, and somehow, "historic burial wrappings" still make the list of things people genuinely try to sneak through. History belongs in museums — not in your checked bag.

In late August 2019, a shipment arriving at Dulles International Airport and bound for Philadelphia was labeled simply "African drums and clothes." CBP agriculture specialists weren't fooled. Inside, they found three African animal skins — identified as bushbuck, genet, and civet — two antelope heads mounted on unprocessed wood carvings, and 22 pounds of giant African land snail shells.

The shipment, originating from Sierra Leone, violated numerous import requirements and was ordered destroyed on the spot. Officials cited a "potentially serious animal disease threat to American livestock": unprocessed animal pelts can carry pathogens capable of devastating agricultural economies.

In 2011, a 37-year-old man named Sven Koppler from Wachtberg, Germany, pleaded guilty to shipping hundreds of live tarantulas into the United States through the regular mail. The whole operation unraveled when a routine inspection in Los Angeles revealed about 300 live spiders in a single package. U.S. Fish and Wildlife agents then posed as buyers and placed more orders, eventually receiving five more packages full of tarantulas, both living and dead.

Koppler had made around $300,000 selling exotic spiders to enthusiasts in dozens of countries. When he flew to Los Angeles, agents were there waiting, ready to arrest him.

In February 2009, a 23-year-old man arrived in Australia on a flight from Dubai carrying quite a few unexpected travel companions. Officers found two bird eggs hidden inside a vitamin supplement container, and then, upon further inspection, discovered two live pigeons wrapped in padded envelopes and strapped to each of his legs with a pair of tights. His money belt also contained seeds, and there was an undeclared eggplant for good measure.

The sheer variety of contraband on this one individual is staggering: birds, eggs, seeds, and an eggplant. Australia has some of the world's toughest biosecurity laws, and wildlife smuggling there carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a fine of over $70,000.

Giant African land snails can grow as large as a rat, reproduce rapidly, and — here's the fun part — eat the stucco right off the walls of houses. They pose a massive ecological threat to local environments, which is why CBP's K9 team, charmingly nicknamed the "Beagle Brigade," is regularly sniffing them out of travelers' luggage.

CBP listed Giant African Land Snails among its top 10 agricultural seizures as recently as 2021, which means people are still trying. Whether travelers are bringing them as exotic pets or simply not realizing the danger, the outcome is the same: the snails get confiscated, and everyone learns a very memorable lesson about biosecurity.

In 2017, a man called Rodrigo Franco was caught in Los Angeles attempting to smuggle live snakes into the country, stuffed inside cans. The species involved were protected under international wildlife trade agreements, making the whole operation both bizarre and a serious federal offense.

It raises so many practical questions. How does one safely seal snakes into cans? How do they survive? In the end, the snakes were seized, and the smuggler’s punishment was a government-issued cell, a $4,500 fine, and years of supervised release to follow.