Last year, a car carrying two Armenian men set off a gamma alarm at the Georgia border, but they were allowed in after they blamed it on a recent surgery. Border agents were supposed to ask for a doctor's note.
A German tarantula smuggler, Sven Koppler, was arrested Thursday in Los Angeles after a months-long sting dubbed "Operation Spiderman," in which Koppler allegedly shipped hundreds of live and rare tarantulas wrapped in straws to buyers in the U.S.
Accused arms dealer Viktor Bout, the "Merchant of Death," arrived in New York last night to face terrorism charges. But according to his website, Bout is "a dynamic, charismatic, spontaneous, well-dressed, well-spoken, and highly energetic person." Well, okay then!
Attention heroin smugglers: Most large airports, like JFK, have drug sniffer dogs. Crazy, right?
A 25-year-old "habitual felon" and convict named Eric Chambers has been charged for trying to sneak a Samsung cell phone into a prison in North Carolina. He twice set off metal detectors before police found a phone in his ass.
She has blackmarket weapons smuggling charges pending, but sexy Russian outlaw Anna Fermanova is keeping busy with a new job with a local news station. Her sign-off: "I'm Anna Fermanova, some call me the sexy Russian, and that's my take."
Moms and dads, you might be disappointed with how your kids turned out. But always remember it's not as bad as it could be. Edgar Valdez Villarreal went from a high school football star in Texas to Mexican drug lord.
A Malaysian man, Keng Liang Wong, was arrested this week after his luggage burst open on a conveyor belt at the Kuala Lumpur airport, exposing 95 endangered boa constrictors. Wong has previously served time in the US for smuggling animals.
Last Sunday a Thai woman was stopped at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport when security screeners saw x-ray images of bones among a stash of stuffed tiger toys in her luggage. Inside they found a drugged two-month old tiger cub.
Casslyn Welch, one half of the cousin/fiancee "Bonnie and Clyde" couple from Arizona, became a federal informant after being caught with drugs bound for white supremacists in prison. She's no Butt Smuggler, but did sneak heroin into prison three times.
New details on sexy Russian blackmarket smuggler Anna Fermanova: She hid her contraband goods in Ugg boots in her carry-on bag, and her husband was deported to Russia for fraud and identity theft. He's an importer and currency trader. [TSG]
A lawyer for America's new sexy Russian outlaw, Texan beauty school grad Anna Fermanova, is mad about how "the New York press" is treating his client. Fermanova's not a spy, he says. Just an inadvertent exporter of blackmarket military technology.
When airport authorities in Mexico City noticed a strange bulge in Roberto Cabrera's shirt they decided to investigate. They found he had 18 rare monkeys in his pockets, and he wasn't happy to see them.
People trying to smuggle contraband into jail should do some research before bringing goodies in. The Butt Smuggler failed. The prosthetic leg guy did, too. And a Florida man was just caught with "blue prescription pills" attached to his penis.
Yesterday it was the World Cup of Cocaine. Today, we learn about a DEA operation that helped capture a submarine built for transporting "tons" of cocaine along the Ecuador/Colombia border. It's a drug-fueled Fourth of July weekend!
Louisiana prison inmate Joe Lewis, perhaps inspired by The Butt Smuggler, was caught trying to sneak cigarettes, four muscle relaxers and chewing tobacco back into jail inside his prosthetic leg from a work release program. Four pills? Weak. [TheTownTalk]
Earlier this month, customs officials at JFK arrested Robert Lopera when he arrived from Colombia on an Avianca flight with an enormous load of candies and nuts. Inside the treats were another sort of delicacy: Cocaine. A lot of cocaine.
