by Donald Wood
Last updated: 10:21 AM ET, Fri December 1, 2017
Customs officers working at a Chinese airport were stunned when they discovered hundreds of live cockroaches inside the luggage of a couple coming through a security checkpoint.
According to BBC.com, security personnel working at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport last week noticed something moving inside an elderly couple's bag when they examined it with an X-ray machine.
Inside the couple's luggage, customs officials found a white bag that contained black items moving inside, which turned out to be hundreds of live cockroaches. When the couple opened the bag, one of the cockroaches crawled out.
The elderly man explained to officers that they were transporting the cockroaches for an ointment for his wife's skin. He believed that when mixed with medicinal cream, the cockroaches would help his wife's unspecified condition.
Since living organisms are not permitted in carry-on luggage, the couple was forced to leave their cockroaches with security at the Chinese airport. It's unclear what officials did with the bag of bugs.
Chinese customs officers have a history of dealing with unusual items inside luggage, including a man being caught in August at a bus station in Duyun attempting to transport two human arms through a security checkpoint.
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