Airport horror as border patrol find 'human remains' in passenger's luggage

A man has been caught trying to take 'human remains' through security at a busy airport - and defended himself by saying he was going to use them in a bizarre ritual.

Customs officers at Tampa International Airport in Florida made the shock discovery this week after the passenger initially only declared 10 cigarsin his possession. Fragments of what appeared to be a human skull and several bones were found inside the man's luggage alongside "prohibited plants", bosses at the airport said. Photographs taken after they were confiscated show the bones in crumpled tinfoil, which had been used to keep them together inside the suitcase.

The bones were seized and destroyed after being deemed a "serious health risk". Carlos C Martel, Director of Field Operations at the US Customs and Border Protection's (CBP) Miami/Tampa Field Office, said on social media: "What started as a passenger declaring just 10 cigars at TPA turned bizarre.

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"CBP Agriculture Specialists uncovered prohibited plants, undeclared cigars, and a foil-wrapped duffel bag containing what looked like human remains, including part of a skull. The traveler claimed the items were for rituals, but due to serious health risks, the items were seized and destroyed.

"At CBP, we never know what baggage may hold, but smugglers should know we’ll always have a bone to pick."

It's not the first time human remains have turned up unexpectedly at an airport.

In 2020, a woman and her daughter were stopped in an airport after custom officers found a a man's remains in their luggage. The pair had put his bones inside a box in their suitcase in a bid to return him home to Armenia.

The women, aged 74 and 52, were travelling from Greece to Yerevan with a stopover in Munich, when German authorities made the unusual discovery. Customs officials, a doctor and prosecutors were called in, but it was determined no crime had been committed.

And last year, an airport workerspoke of his shock after finding a woman dead on a luggage conveyor belt. Mum-of-two Virginia Vinton, 57, was found lifeless at O'Hare airport in Chicago by a baggage handler for Delta Airlines.

Speaking to US media, he revealed he had asked the woman if she wanted him to turn off the belt before getting an "eerie feeling" as he loaded bags onto the carousel. He called out to her, 'Hey, are you okay?' only to notice the 57-year-old was not breathing.