8 Weirdest Live Stuff Busted by Customs Control

South African caught at airport with crocodiles and 70 other animals in luggage

A South African man was caught trying to smuggle 70 live animals including crocodiles through airport customs in his luggage. The 28-year-old was arrested after apparently stashing several of the valuable reptiles in his bags, along with dozens of snakes, a turtle, spiders, scorpions and frogs. Customs officials were shocked to discover the haul of wild creatures hidden inside plastic tubs as the man passed through O R Tambo International Airport near Johannesburg after arriving from Bangkok in Thailand. The collection of animals included at least three different endangered species and eight inch-long Caiman crocodiles, small insect-eating cousins of the famous Nile crocodile.

(Link)

Man caught in Norway customs with 14 royal pythons and 10 albino leopard geckos hidden all over his body

Customs officials in Norway arrested a man who had 14 royal pythons and 10 albino leopard geckos hidden under his clothing. He had rolled up the pythons in socks and put the geckos inside boxes, and then taped them to his chest and legs. The animals had a total value of about $10,000. The scariest thing about all this is that officials didn't become suspicious until they did a routine check on his luggage and found a tarantula, and it was exactly when they started to search him. (Link)

Woman caught trying to smuggle 51 living fishes under her skirt

There must have been something fishy about the way she walked. Customs officials stopped a woman as she arrived in Melbourne on a flight from Singapore and found 51 live tropical fish allegedly hidden in a specially designed apron under her skirt. During the search customs officers became suspicious after hearing 'flipping' noises coming from the vecinity of her waist. An examination revealed 15 plastic water-filled bags holding fish allegedly concealed inside a purpose-built apron. The fish were later identified as tropical Catfish with one fish, the Asian Arowana, being a Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) listed fish. All of the fish are Prohibited Imports. The value of the fish was estimated at $30,000. (Link)

German caught with 24 geckos and 20 skinks hidden in his underwear

A German tourist was caught trying to leave New Zealand with 23 geckos and 20 skinks hidden in his underwear. Hans Kubus, 58, was stopped at Christchurch Airport after checking in, and was searched by customs staff. A small package containing the reptiles was found in his underwear. The package contained eight separate compartments separating various geckos and skink species.

Kubus' luggage also contained a single gecko in a rolled up sock. A total of 24 geckos from five different species were found, as well as 20 skinks from two other species. The German admitted trading geckos and skinks from the wild without a permit. A black market trade in geckos exists in Europe and those taken by Kubus would have had a street value of around $35,850 US. The value of the skinks was unknown because trading in that species had not previously been identified. (Link)

Man caught smuggling 14 live birds in his trousers

A traveler was caught at Los Angeles International Airport with 14 songlive birds strapped to his legs under his trousers. Customs officers searched Sonny Dong, 46, and found bird feathers and droppings on his socks, as well as birds' tail feathers visible under his pants. The subsequent search discovered 14 live birds attached to two flat pieces of cloth that were wrapped around his calves. (Link)

Swiss man caught trying to take 164 trapdoor spiders to Germany

German customs officials inspecting a Swiss car got a nasty shock when they discovered 164 large spiders and 45 boxes of cockroaches -- the arachnids' food for the journey. Officials found the spiders, some as large as a hand, in plastic bags and sealed inside boxes in the man's car as he attempted to cross the Basel border. The spider-man was planning to sell the spiders at a fair in Germany. The same man was stopped at exactly the same place in 2007 trying to sneak nearly 1,000 spiders across the border in his car. (Link)

Man caught trying to smuggle snakes in his suitcase

X-ray images caught a man trying to smuggle 44 snakes and lizards on a flight out of Australia in his suitcase. The 24-year-old smuggler had checked in for a flight to Bangkok from Sydney's airport when Customs officials allegedly spotted him and confiscated his reptile stash when his bag was being screened. The haul included 24 shingleback lizards, 16 bluetongue lizards, three black-headed pythons and an endangered albino carpet python. The reptiles in the smuggling attempt would fetch between around £90,000 (200,000 Australian dollars) on the black market.

The reptiles were hidden in socks and cloth bags. (Link)

Australian caught smuggling pigeons in his trousers

An Australian man was arrested after he was caught trying to bring two pigeons into the country hidden in his trousers. The 23-year-old man was stopped by customs officials at Melbourne airport after he made it to the airport from Dubai. The officers searched his bags and allegedly found a vitamin container with two bird eggs inside. A further search revealed he was wearing tights under his trousers, with a live pigeon stuffed into each leg. The birds were wrapped up in padded envelopes, but had anything else to protect them during the 10-hour flight. The man was arrested on the scene and could face 10 years in jail and a substantial fine if convicted. Officers also seized a money belt containing plant seeds and undeclared samples of eggplant in the passenger's baggage before he was handed over to Australian Quarantine and Inspection Services staff. (Link)

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10 Unbelievable Inheritance Stories

The Portuguese aristocrat who left his fortune to 70 total strangers randomly chosen from a phone directory

Luis Carlos de Noronha Cabral da Camara made an unusual distribution of his money after his death: 70 people listed in a Lisbon phone directory were contacted out of the blue after his death to be told he had made them his beneficiaries. They had been chosen at random from the directory, in front of two witnesses at a registry office 13 years before. It certainly came as a shock to them. In the first place, people do not, as a rule, make wills in Portugal. In the second, Portuguese aristocrats are getting thin on the ground, let alone eccentric ones. In the third - to be chosen by phone directory? No wonder that some feared they were being scammed.

(Link)

The homeless brothers who inherited more than 100 million euros

A pair of penniless down and outs inherited a share of a 4 billion GBP fortune after a bizarre twist in family fortunes. Brothers Zsolt and Geza Peladi were so poor they lived in a cave outside Budapest, Hungary, and sold scrap they found on the street for pennies. Now both of them and a sister who lives in America inherited their grandmother's massive fortune after a life of poverty. "We knew our mother came from a wealthy family but she was a difficult person and had severed ties with them, then later abandoned us and we lost touch with her and our father until she eventually died," said Geza, 43.

They learned of their good fortune after homelessness charity workers in Hungary were contacted by lawyers handling the estate of the brothers' maternal grandmother who died recently in Baden-Wurttenberg, Germany. Under German law direct descendents are automatically entitled to a share of any estate - that would pass from their dead mother to them. (Link | Photo)

The student who inherited almost a billion euros from an uncle he hadn't seen for a decade

Sergey Sudev was left a 950 million euros fortune by an uncle he had not seen for 10 years. But he must have made a good impression at their meeting a decade ago, because it prompted the uncle, who lived in Germany, to write Sudev into his will straight away. The student had no idea he stood to inherit a fortune and got on with his course in journalism.Then one day there was a knock at his door in the town of Komrat - his uncle's agents had tracked him down to pass on the incredible news. A shocked Sudev is reported to have said to them: "Is this a joke?" The inheritance means he has become one of the richest men in Moldova, where the average monthly salary is around 270 euros. (Link)

The richest woman in Asia gave away her multi-billion-US-dollar fortune to a feng shui master in return for a promise of eternal life

Nina Wang, who died of cancer in 2007 at age 69, signed over her vast fortune to a previously unknown feng shui master Tony Chan as a promise for eternal life. Wang changed her will in 2006 in order to leave everything to the feng shui master, voiding a previous will written four years earlier that left the fortune to her family and to charity. With no children of her own, Wang wrote a new will in 2006, two years after her ovarian cancer was diagnosed, making 48-year-old Chan her sole beneficiary.

The question is, why would Chan ask Wang to put him in her will if he had ensured her she would live forever, or at least for a very long time? (Link)

The waitress who inherited a little fortune from a customer

In 1992, Cara Wood was 17 and working at Drin's Colonial Restaurant in her hometown of Chagrin Falls, about 15 miles east of Cleveland. She was a good employee – bright, friendly and helpful. One customer, Bill Cruxton, liked her so much that he always sat in her section. A widower with no children, he went daily to the restaurant for his meals and some company, so they became friends. In addition to being his regular waitress, she helped him around the house and ran errands for him. Wood became so important to Cruxton that he rewrote his will, making her the main beneficiary. Cruxton, 82, died of heart failure in November 1992 and left her half a million dollars. (Link)

The Argentine maid who recived $40m after a judicial battle that involved a corpse's robbery

Eva Paole, a retired Argentine maid, has inherited the whopping sum of $40 million after a nine-year legal battle. It was a decade ago that Paole first heard the rumor that she might be the daughter of baron Rufino Otero, who died in 1983 and had no children with his wife. Until then, Paole always had thought she was the daughter of her mother, Josefa, and her partner. Her mother took the secret of Eva's real father to her grave. According to Eva, "money isn't everything" and what is really important for her is that she has finally discovered her true identity. DNA tests showed she truly is the daughter of the powerful landowner who died 25 years ago.

If all of that wasn't enough material for a soap opera, six weeks after Eva began legal proceedings, Otero's tomb was desecrated and his corpse exchanged for another. To establish Paole's relation to Otero, authorities used the remains of the land baron's mother, Justina Porras instead. (Link 1 | Link 2 | Photo)

The teenager who inherited an Island with a buried treasure

Josh wasn't close to his grandfather and in fact, he had met him just a handful of times in his 17 years. Stubborn and highly traditional, Samuel disapproved of his daughter Susan's marriage to a man from outside of their religious faith, but he'd always had a soft spot for his only grandson. Although he hadn't seen his grandson in years before his death in 2007, Josh was named the heir to what remained of his grandfather's estate, including a 36-acre island and more than 80 acres of farmland. But there was something unexpected in the will… a detailed list of antique jewellery and loose gems contained “in the thermos.” There was no indication at all of where this portion of Josh's inheritance was. But Susan did remember the oblique references her father had always made of his “treasure island” when she was a child.

So now the hunt is on, and while finding Samuel's hidden thermos of precious gems is far from a sure bet, the family is confident that it will soon turn up somewhere on (or under) the island's 36 acres. (Link)

The Terrier who inherited a $12m fortune

New York hotelier and real estate billionaire Leona Helmsley (called the Queen of Mean) has left $12m (£5.97m) to her pet dog, Trouble. The pampered pooch received the largest bequest from Mrs Helmsley's will while some human members of Mrs Helmsley's family fared less well, with two of her four grandchildren cut out of the will entirely.

The money for Trouble's upkeep was left in the hands of her brother, Alvin Rosenthal, who inherited $10m himself. (Link 1 | Link 2)

The man who left part of his inheritance to the woman who would give birth to the most children 10 years after his death

Though highly successful in law and in his investments, Millar is now known primarily for his love of jokes and pranks which played on people's greed and hypocrisy. Millar's greatest and final prank was his will, which says in part: "This Will is necessarily uncommon and capricious because I have no dependents or near relations and no duty rests upon me to leave any property at my death and what I do leave is proof of my folly in gathering and retaining more than I required in my lifetime."

The will was full of playful bequests. But the final bequest of his will was the largest and strangest. In the will's ninth clause, Millar's estate's balance was required to be converted to cash ten years after his death and given to the woman who gave birth to the most children in that time. In the event of a tie, the bequest would be divided equally. The resulting contest became known as the Great Stork Derby. (Link)

The homeless who fled police while bringing him news of a $6-million inheritance

A homeless man supposed to be living on the streets of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia fled police who were bringing him news of a $6-million inheritance. Tomas Martinez, 67, apparently thought the police were about to arrest him for his alcohol and drug habits. The man disappeared without a trace, causing Bolivian newspapers to speak of him in 2000 as a "new millionaire paradoxically not knowing his fortune". The inheritance came to Mr Martinez from his ex-wife, Ines Gajardo Olivares, who inherited the money herself from family members. She evidently did not blame him for leaving her several years ago.

The (un)lucky man has never been found. (Link 1 | Link 2)