Customs inspectors in Dubai, the largest city in the United Arab Emirates, intercepted foreign objects from the suitcase of an unnamed African man at Dubai International Airport. Among the items seized were a live snake, a dried monkey’s hand and lists of spells.
According to reports, the entire contents of his suitcase were linked to witchcraft paraphernalia. Customs officer said Emirates today news portal reported that thanks to the vigilance and expertise of a customs inspector, suspicion arose regarding a passenger who arrived from an undisclosed African country.
Therefore, both the passenger and his luggage underwent manual inspection.
During the investigation, a live snake was discovered hidden among other objects in a bag. Further investigation revealed a monkey’s hand, a deceased bird, eggs wrapped in cotton, as well as other items typically used in witchcraft rituals: spells, talismans, and annotated papers.
All seized materials were handed over to the competent authority, namely the Ministry of Islamic Affairs and Charitable Activities in Dubai, for authentication.
The department confirmed that these items were indeed related to witchcraft. A spokesperson for the department emphasized the danger posed by witchcraft, describing it as a threat to societal security due to its manipulative and exploitative nature.
Dubai Customs is committed to thwarting attempts to smuggle witchcraft materials, as confirmed by Khalid Ahmed, senior manager of the passenger transport department at Terminal 1.
Ahmed highlighted ongoing training initiatives to educate inspectors on how to recognize and tackle such contraband, noting previous examples of similar smuggling attempts.
Various witchcraft items, including scraps of paper, talismans, metal plates, rosaries, animal skins, books, fish bones, dolls, containers of blood, liquid substances, animal images, threads, briquettes, rings, shellfish, plant leaves, powders, cotton Rolls, needles and dark substances have been confiscated from offending passengers.
The inmate now faces a fine of approximately $13,000 and possible prison time if found guilty of practicing witchcraft.