Airport customs officials in Cairo foil bid to smuggle in 45 bladed weapons, narcotic pills

CAIRO: Two passengers who arrived at Cairo International Airport are to be prosecuted in separate cases for trying to smuggle in items in violation of customs laws.

The first passenger was held in possession of 45 bladed weapons, while the other was carrying a quantity of tramadol tablets.

The passenger facing legal action over the bladed weapons was on a Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul. He was stopped by a customs officer at the gate and an inspection of his baggage by the X-ray machine revealed the presence of metallic objects.

A manual inspection then resulted in the seizure of the bladed items.

The second case was investigated in coordination with the General Department for Drug Control at the airport.

Officials said 240 tablets of tramadol, a pain medication, were seized during the completion of customs procedures for passengers arriving on a flight from Athens.

Separately, customs authorities reported a foreign female passenger had been held in possession of 15 narcotic items, and an Egyptian passenger for having five drugs-related packages.

The first passenger was stopped following customs procedures for passengers from an Egyptian flight which had arrived from Johannesburg. She was trying to reach the travel hall with Hurghada, Egypt, as its destination.

She denied possession of the drugs but a search of her bags revealed marijuana oil in her luggage.

There were 13 plastic packages containing the drug, along with two items used to heat the items.

The passenger on the flight from Milan was found to be in possession of five packages containing drugs.