Triple threat: Crocodile chaos at checkpoint
Border guards at the usually-closed Rafah crossing from Egypt into Gaza shrieked in fear last Thursday after an oddly chubby veiled woman was taken aside for a closer inspection. Beneath her loose robe she had strapped a girdle of live crocodiles! The policewoman screamed and bolted from the search cubicle. Even her seen-it-all superiors succumbed to pat-down panic when the dangerous materials in question had teeth and claws.
According to press reports, this was no suicide bomber, then, but a wildlife smuggler. She had tied the mouths of three crocodiles shut with string and cinched the trussed reptiles around her waist. (Photo courtesy of Rafah's European observers.) Each was about 20 inches long, and could be sold for around $500, equivalent to a couple months' salary.
The clandestine crocodile girdle was not the first wildlife contraband seized at this sensitive frontier, where arms and drugs are far more common. Another lady once tried to sneak through a monkey tied to her chest, and attempts to smuggle exotic birds and a tiger cub into Gaza have been thwarted. Wearing full hijab, this smuggler was arrested and her reptiles returned to Egyptian custody. The policewomen finally stopped squealing and some even admired the gumption it took to strap on a reptile belt.
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4 comments:
A crocodile mule like this veiled woman sure must have a tough hide. And who buys these creatures from the reptile rustlers? Zoos? Or paranoid militant chiefs who want extra teeth in their security detail? Will officials look into the Egypt wildlife smuggling ring, or is the human condition so dire that this does not get attention? And was the woman Palerstinian or Egyptian or from somewhere else? Maybe it was just a weight loss fad?
I hear it's all the rage on the runways in Paris and New York these days. It is also quite fashionable to stuff an angry, wet badger down your trousers.
I've heard about alligator shoes and belts, but this is ridiculous! Or is this a fine example of Gaza's haute cuisine.. baby croc tongues with humus?
Red Heifer
Better crocs than bombs.
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