Italian customs officers have nabbed a smuggler whose novel ploy gives new meaning to the term "drug running." The culprit's luggage contained a suspicious number of sneakers, which turned out to be stuffed with cocaine.
Even for participants in the Rome marathon, seven pairs of running shoes would be excessive Image: picture-alliance/dpa/A Carcioni
Advertisement
Checks on passengers coming from Sao Paulo in Brazil tripped up one apparent tourist after he arrived at Rome's Fiumicino airport, authorities said on Saturday.
Officials from the customs office, conducting a joint operation with police, had decided that the flight route presented a high risk for drug trafficking.
They conducted spot checks on passengers, including one man wearing casual clothes and branded running shoes. To their surprise, the man's suitcase did not contain enough clothes for even a short stay thousands of kilometers from home.
It did, however, contain several more pairs of sneakers.
With their suspicions now raised, one eagle-eyed customs officer took a closer look, and found the rubber soles of the shoes to have a false bottom, with a strange liquid inside.
Instead of the gel normally used to keep runners' feet comfortable and injury-free, tests revealed the substance to be cocaine.
"Only an expert would have been able to tell the liquid wasn't the usual gel," Italy's financial police said Saturday.
The Brazilian national was charged with smuggling seven kilograms (15 pounds) of cocaine, with the highly-pure fluid containing enough cocaine to fetch two million euros ($2.2 million) on the street.
The story was quickly dubbed the case of the "scarpe stupefacenti" - "scarpe" meaning shoes and "stupefacenti" being a play on words, meaning both "amazing" and "narcotic."
From dyed ivory to drug-infested rugs: German customs' best finds in 2014
Anything that costs a pretty penny is likely to be in demand and likely to be smuggled. The German customs authority has released its 2014 statistics. Find out what its officials managed to confiscate.
Image: Zollverwaltung
Swept 'into' the carpet
Smugglers are known to be creative when it comes to hiding their illegal cargo. Last January, customs officials secured nine Persian rugs from Iran that had 45 kilograms of heroin woven into them. Pictured here are some of the individual strands that contained the drug.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Burgi
Cigarettes…
Being a customs official is not exactly a cushy job, being exposed to organized crime makes it "everything but risk-free," according to the Customs Authority's annual report. Smuggling drugs and cigarettes is one of the top domains well-connected international gangs operate in. In 2014, German authorities confiscated 140 million cigarettes.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
…& drugs
They also secured 1.6 tons of marijuana, 1.2 tons of cocaine, 22 kilograms of crystal meth and 383 kilograms of amphetamines.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/A. Burgi
More cigarettes...
This smuggler found a most tasty wrapping for his contraband. Customs officials have also found cigarettes in cans of dog food, furniture, auto tires and batteries - to name just a few typical hiding places.
Image: Zollverwaltung
... & more drugs
Highly addictive: This toy from an air shipment may have looked innocent at first sight, but it contains crystal meth. Thanks to stepped up cooperation with domestic and foreign law enforcement agencies, customs seized 22 kilograms of the drug last year.
Image: Zollverwaltung
Made in China
Three quarters of the counterfeit goods confiscated in Germany last year hailed from China, including Hong Kong. German customs managed to prevent 45,000 attempts at smuggling fake goods into Germany. Items like bags, sunglasses, watches and jewelry are top of the list, according to the annual report.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Rather peckish
An Italian man tried to smuggle 200 dead skylarks and meadow pipits at Munich airport. He said he was an amateur hunter and had killed the birds in Romania - purely for his own use back home in Italy. Clearly a man with either a large appetite or a lot of mouths to feed!
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Hauptzollamt München
Protected wildlife
Customs officials confiscated 23 geckos like this little fellow at the home of a 51-year-old in Rhineland-Palatinate, where he kept them in terrariums and offered them for sale on the Internet for up to 8,000 euros ($8,463) a pair. New Zealand geckos are protected under the Endangered Species Act, and can only be exported with a special permit.
Image: Zollverwaltung
'Rosewood ivory'
Ivory is still a much sought after commodity despite an international accord banning the trade in tusks from elephants, rhinos and other mammals. It's so lucrative that smugglers have even tried to dye it a rosewood color to make it look the wood of the same name, which is not illegal to import into the EU.
Image: Reuters
Beyond bling
Apart from electronic devices, cigarettes and alcohol, jewelry is one of the most popular items people try to get past customs. Last year, more than 1,600 customs violators were fined in Germany.
