Airports on High Alert for Christmas

December 2007

Cairo airport was one of many African and middle-eastern airports that was on high alert this Christmas, not for terrorists or drug smugglers, but for reptile smugglers.

In early 2007 security officials at Cairo airport apprehended a person who had been trying to smuggle a number of live reptiles to Riyadh (a Saudi Arabian city), including a number of chameleons, baby crocodiles and an entire bag full of snakes. The man was stopped at Cairo's airport just moments before he boarded the Saudi Arabia-bound plane with carry-on bags filled with the reptiles.

The Security guards became suspicious of the man's baggage when the X-ray machine at the departure gate started giving odd readings. The 22-year-old Saudi would-be smuggler was later allowed to return to the Saudi capital but without his cargo of live reptiles. He claimed to have been unaware that transporting live reptiles outside Egypt was illegal, and that all the reptiles were being transported by him for use at the Saudi Arabian university for scientific experiments.

Examining the luggage, officials were astonished to find nearly 250 baby nile crocodiles and a cobra, which nearly escaped in the hustle and bustle of the airport. It is estimated that this was the largest smuggling attempt of Nile crocodiles in recent history. This bounty of reptiles was later transported to the Cairo Zoo.

Officials heightened security in December in anticipation of a high level of reptile smuggling; smugglers believing that they could move their illegal cargo through the airport easier due to the melee created by the festive crowds. Official reports have yet to be released however a number of people where detained for further questioning in the week immediately before Christmas.