Couple caught trying to smuggle son into UAE in carry-on luggage
The outline of the baby’s body was spotted during a routine scan of arriving passengers’ luggage at Sharjah airport, UAE.
A couple from Egypt have been arrested for trying to smuggle their five-month-old baby past officials at Sharjah airport in the United Arab Emirates.
Al-Arabiya reports that customs officials were "stunned" when the X-ray machine revealed the baby concealed in the mother's handbag on Saturday.
The couple had arrived on Friday, but were denied entry because they did not have a visa or passport for the baby. Airport authorities were allowing them to stay in the airport until the visa office opened on Sunday, according to Emirates 24/7.
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But, rather than wait, the couple zipped the boy inside a carry-on bag and tried to sneak him through security, says the New York Daily News. However, 9News explains that all carry-on luggage is scanned on arrival at UAE airports and that's when the baby was discovered.
A police official at the airport told Gulf News: “This machine is very dangerous for anyone, let alone a baby in a bag to pass through . . . They have put the life of their child at risk.”
The Sun says it is unclear how the child was got onto the aircraft in Egypt without a passport.
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