Man with ‘black magic’ tools arrested at Abu Dhabi airport

[harvey007]

Source: UAE - The Gulf Today

THE Abu Dhabi police, in cooperation with the customs of Abu Dhabi International Airport, have thwarted the smuggling of writings, talismans, rings, strings and incense which involved magic and sorcery.

Colonel Dr Rashid Mohammed Bu Rasheed, head of the Department of Organised Crime of the Abu Dhabi Criminal Investigations Department, has revealed that the inspectors of the department arrested the 47-year-old Asian, identified as BHL, who was entering the country on a labour visa via Abu Dhabi airport.

Read more: http://gulftoday.ae/portal/538f8104-8cea-43ec-9d76-b517454a2b1a.aspx

[Moonwalk]

1. There aren't enough Rolling-Eyes emoticons here...

...to express how ridiculous I find this. Oooo! Scary! String! Incense! Rings! Like half the mainstream religions don't use the same items!

Unless one of those talisman was a recently severed head, the only thing I see here is that Abu Dhabi wants to keep out certain imaginary friends from their country (smuggling? Really? You're telling me people in Abu Dhabi can't get those "writings" off the internet, string at the local hardware store, incense from where-ever, and just make the damn talismans?) :eyes:

[Ian David]

2. Gee, how did they catch him...

[DBoon]

3. do they arrest Roman Catholics carrying rosary beads?

nt

[JCMach1]

4. You have to know how to read this... this was 'Organized Crime' police

People who do this sort of thing in the UAE are the worst sort of scam artists.

[valerief]

5. "You with with five-billion-dollar pallet of cash. Go right through. But you with the rabbit's foot!

Yes, you! You're going to prison forever!"

[Moonwalk]

7. LOL! Exactly!

:rofl:

:yourock:

[DesertFlower]

6. not all magic is black magic.

[FLPanhandle]

14. but it is all make believe.

[DesertFlower]

15. it can act as a placebo.

[bengalherder]

8. About 15 years ago I had a tibetan artifact nearly ripped to shreds in St Louis.

It was a decorated monkey skull known as a kapala. They are very eerie-looking things. It's maybe hundreds of years old. I had it in my carry-on because I was going to see a professor friend of mine on the trip and was afraid of the treatment it might recieve in my checked luggage.

This one woman would NOT let me go. She was determined to destroy the thing on the suspicion of drugs? explosives? I don't know.

My kapala was saved by a young man who very frantically told her to just put it back and let me by. I'm sure his mother warned him him not to interfere with small women in black carrying around bizarre skull-like objects. :) Needless to say, I packed it as best as I could and risked baggage check on the way back.

I'll remember not to carry it to the Middle East :) . Not like I would ever go there. I'm not a small woman in black who would fit in very well, I'm afraid.

I hope this poor guy survives this bullshit.

PS: To any lurking Arabs, you can make any of that stuff yourselves. Your people practically invented western magic through medieval volumes such as the Picatrix that have only recently even been translated to English. See http://english.grimoar.cz/?Loc=idx&Lng=2

[jberryhill]

9. Was it made from an actual monkey skull?

http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/travel/vacation/kbyg/prohibited_restricted.xml#GameandHuntingTrophies

"Nonhuman primate trophy materials may require a permit from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Prospective importers of nonhuman primate trophy materials from nonhuman primates should review the permit requirements and complete an application form, following the Guidance for Individuals Wishing to Import Non-Human Primate Trophies, Skins or Skulls."

It would be surprising if you could carry that in today. The trade in endangered animal parts is fairly high on the priority list.

What species of monkey is it?

And if it is 100 years old, did you declare it as a cultural artifact?

[bengalherder]

10. My Professor friend said it was around a hundred and fifty give or take.

It is not a modern one, and it has been in this country for a long time as I bought it at an estate sale. It had been in a trunk that had supposedly been unopened since the early 1900's. I did not import him and I'm sure he was imported long before restrictions.

I've never claimed it as any sort of artifact, although one day I hope to bring it back to a temple in Nepal which is dedicated to the monkey god and specializes in such things. He is of a common species who roam the temples there.

One thing I love about him is that he is not decorated as a monkey, but as a human monk. He obviously was special to the monks who preserved him. His skull was fractured. I can only surmise he died in some sort of accident.

You can buy chinese fakes on the internets nowadays for around fifty dollars. I would be more concerned about those belonging to endangered species.

[jberryhill]

12. Oh, on a domestic flight

That's different.

Importation of animal parts, or of old cultural artifacts, is a good way to end up spending a lot of time at customs.

[txlibdem]

11. "She turned me into a newt!"

"A newt?"
(pause)
"I got better..."

[guitar man]

13. So

What about a Les Paul? Is it considered a "black magic tool" too? :silly:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaKnRUfh_5I