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Skeletons in the Suitcase

DW staff (win)March 12, 2008

It's not unusual for customs officers to have to deal with the occasional body. Usually, the deceased turn up in coffins. Two ladies, who recently stopped at Munich Airport, chose another container for a dead relative.

https://p.dw.com/p/DNSO
A woman's feet are seen with a trolley suitcase next to her
Anything to declare? Oh, just a couple of old bonesImage: picture-alliance / OKAPIA KG, Germany

When Munich officers asked the two women to open their sealed suitcase, they discovered that the travelers, both in their 60s, had placed the skull and several bones of a man inside.

Flying to Italy via Munich from Brazil, the women had brought along the man's remains to fulfill his wish of finding his final resting place in Italy. According to documents, he had already died 11 years earlier in Sao Paolo.

While the Bavarian officials were understandably surprised about the mode of transport, they did allow the women to continue their journey. After all, they had all the necessary documents to bring the bones to Naples.

And who's to say that a Koffer, or suitcase in German, can't work just as well as a coffin?

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