Security Officer Baffled by Object in Bag

November 11, 2014

in Luggage Stories

I’m an American who lived overseas for 20 years. I’ve flown many, many times and have had bad experiences as well as good ones. This is a funny story about security in Gatwick Airport in London a few years ago.

My wife and I were living in Saudi Arabia. My mom came to visit us just before Christmas. We all flew home together with a 3 day stop in London.

We checked in for our flight and were going through security. We put our carry-ons through the x-ray machine. I then went through the detector first as the girls take a bit longer to get ready. As I stepped out, the security officer has my mom’s carry-on sitting on the table and asked if it was mine. I replied that it was my mom’s and he was welcome to check anything he liked. He opened the bag and pulled out a heavy object wrapped in layers of tissue. He unwrapped it and revealed a sand rose (a rock) that Mom had picked up in the desert.

The look on his face was really strange. I think he was wondering if this was a weapon or something. I could not help myself; I burst out laughing. He gave me a very strange look and I said, “My dad always told me that she packed rocks in her luggage, but I never believed him until now.” It took a second and the look on his face was priceless.

He replied, “Well sir, I’m sure that this is a very special rock.” He re-wrapped and replaced it in her bag and passed us through with a cheery smile and a wave.

{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }

River Little December 13, 2014 at 7:03 am

That made me smile! It's fun to read the horror stories here but it's also Really nice an refreshing to see a sweet or nicely funny story every once in a while. Thank you for posting, you just made my Day! 🙂

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