Moscow luggage handlers lighten load

by Tom Johansmeyer on

What’s going on in Moscow? If you have any valuables in your luggage, they may not be there when you get to the hotel! Well, maybe the odds are better now that police at the city’s main international airport have arrested several luggage handlers suspected of sifting through bags and pocketing the good stuff.

The thefts began in early January at Sheremetyevo Airport. It seems that a daily flight to Sharm el-Sheik, a Red Sea resort in Egypt, was the most popular target. This destination is something of a favorite among Russians. So, the bags on Nord Wind Flight 1921 were lightened a bit, especially of cameras, computers and jewelry.

Police spokeswoman Yelena Starkova was stingy with the details, not revealing how many arrests were made or the value of the stolen goods.

110 pounds of pot found on plane and flight crew arrested

by Jamie Rhein on

After three bags filled with 110 pounds of pot — cannabis to high brow folks — were found on a flight from Johannesburg to Heathrow after the plane landed, fifteen members of the cabin and crew were arrested.

From the BBC article, it’s not clear why all fifteen were arrested, but they are being questioned to find out what they know about how these bags ended up on their South African Airways flight. The British officials take drug smuggling seriously and are not too pleased. Anyone who knows anything about the bags is being urged to call the authorities. Check the article for the phone number.

When I read this story, it reminded me of a high school field trip gone amok.

“What bags?”

“What pot?”

“What? Who me?”

“It’s for medicinal purposes only. Really.”

I wonder if there’s a chance that whoever was traveling with the bags — not the crew — saw the authorities and bolted. A curious story, indeed.

What strange things have been found on planes?


(Click the pictures to find out.)

Leave the poppy seed strudel at home if you’re heading to UAE

by Jamie Rhein on

Yesterday, while wandering through Westside Market in Cleveland, I passed by several stalls laden with baked goods, some sporting poppy seed. The poppy seed strudel was mighty tempting. This brought to mind the sidebar I saw that was attached to the article about Michelle Palmer’s and Vince Acors escape from jail time in Dubai after they allegedly had sex on the beach.

Before Palmer and Acor’s legal woes in Dubai, there was an earlier account about how people who bring poppy seeds into the UAE can also meet serious trouble. There could be trouble even if there are only a few seeds dribbled on a coat after eating a bagel before heading off to Dubai. Iva posted on that very situation back in February. There was one Swiss person who had eaten a bagel with poppy seeds and was arrested.

While eyeing the poppy seed strudel and thinking how yummy it looked, I also remembered that poppy seeds are not allowed in Singapore either. At least, you couldn’t buy them when I lived there in the 1990s. Perhaps Singapore has loosened up, but I think not.

The issue with poppy seeds is the same issue in Dubai. Instead of baking with poppy seeds, people could just get a notion to turn them into opium. The thing is, from what I understand, opium is not made from poppy seeds, but from the unripe poppy seed pod. Eating poppy seeds, however, can result in a false positive for the drug. Tricky.

Because this is an older story, I checked the U.S. Department of State page on UAE to see if poppy seeds are still banned. Yes, they are. I looked on Singapore’s page to see if I could find out about poppy seeds. I couldn’t find a reference to them, but the don’ts in Singapore is a mighty hefty list.

Push up bandit breaks the law by doing push ups on a Santa Monica median

by Jamie Rhein on

All Jim Birch wanted to do was a bit of exercise. He’s been exercising for years on the 4th Street median in Santa Monica. As I posted earlier, people are getting cited and fined for such unruly behavior. Doing any sort of exercise except for jogging or walking is not allowed on the medians anymore.

Birch and others aren’t too happy about that. This video is a lighthearted, but sort of serious faux newscast where Birch stages a protest by doing a bit of exercising so he can get arrested–kind of. This is such a Santa Monica scene.

Look for the part in the video of people exercising on the sidewalk. There’s even a yoga mat.