Chinese couple found carrying 200 live cockroaches

Beijing Dec 1 (IANS) Customs officials at a Chinese airport found 200 live cockroaches in an elderly couple s luggage.

According to the Beijing Youth Daily security at southern Guangdong s Baiyun International Airport noticed movement in the couple s luggage when they placed their bags through an x-ray machine on November 25.

"There was a white plastic bag with lots of black items moving inside " security guard Xu Yuyu told Kankan News.

"One of the staff opened their luggage and a roach crawled out of it. She almost cried " the guard added.

Asked why they were transporting the cockroaches the husband told officials that they were an ointment for his wife s skin the BBC reported on Thursday.

The man did not specify what her condition was but officials were told: "They were part of an old folk remedy. You mix the roaches in some medicinal cream and put it on your skin."

As living organisms were not permitted in on-flight hand luggage the couple chose to leave them with the security staff.

This is not the first time security officials had an unpleasant surprise at an x-ray checkpoint. In August a man was found transporting two human arms after the limbs showed up on a bus station x-ray scanner.

--IANS
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