What are we smuggling?

Each year, German officials give a press conference displaying some of the contraband seized by customs police. This year, they reported that German customs seized over five times as many pirated goods in 2006 as they did in 2005. What else did they find? More drugs. They seized twice as much hashish and nearly twice ...

603309_070314_lizard_05.jpg
603309_070314_lizard_05.jpg

Each year, German officials give a press conference displaying some of the contraband seized by customs police. This year, they reported that German customs seized over five times as many pirated goods in 2006 as they did in 2005.

Each year, German officials give a press conference displaying some of the contraband seized by customs police. This year, they reported that German customs seized over five times as many pirated goods in 2006 as they did in 2005.

What else did they find? More drugs. They seized twice as much hashish and nearly twice as much cocaine in 2006 as compared to the year before. And endangered species, both flora and fauna, alive and dead, were confiscated in growing numbers. Below are some of the more bizarre findings from among the 53,000 tons of smuggled plants and animals seized in 2006:

Clockwise, from left: A stuffed baby caiman lizard, an ashtray made from an endangered species of turtle, illegal wine made from cobras, an equine skull and a stuffed lion cub. 


All photos Theo Klein/Getty Images News

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