Smugglers have been known to illegally traffic exotic animals in airports, but this Chinese couple may have had the most bizarre case yet.
Security personnel at southern Guangdong’s Baiyun International Airport in China were left flabbergasted, after two elderly passengers’ luggage was discovered to have contained hundreds of live cockroaches.
According to Kankan News, as relayed by BBC News, officials managing the x-ray machine noticed unusual movement inside the couples’ bags last week.
“There was a white plastic bag with lots of black items moving inside,” Xu Yuyu, a security guard at the scene, told the news outlet.
“One of the staff opened their luggage and a roach crawled out of it. She almost cried,” Xu shared.
When questioned by authorities, the unidentified husband claimed that the roaches were used to make an ointment to cure his wife’s skin condition.
“They were part of an old folk remedy. You mix the roaches in some medicinal cream and put it on your skin,” Beijing Youth Daily quoted the man.
Baiyun International Airport, meanwhile, clarified that living organisms are not permitted to be carried on flight in hand luggage.
The couple was permitted to resume their flight, but had to surrender the creepy crawlies to airport officials.
It remained unclear as to what happened to the roaches. Khristian Ibarrola /ra