20 Quick Facts About Smuggling That’ll Surprise You

Mötley Crüe's manager named Doc McGhee was caught smuggling 40,000 pounds of marijuana and only served a 5-year suspended prison term and a $15,000 fine.

John DeLorean was arrested by the FBI for conspiring to smuggle $24 million worth of cocaine into the US while the DeLorean Motor Company was failing to raise money to survive. Claiming he was coerced into participation in the deal by FBI agents who approached him as legitimate investors, he was acquitted.

Rum-Running is smuggling alcohol over water; Boot-Legging is smuggling alcohol over land.

Butterfly specimen smuggling is a real thing. In 2016, the largest case of butterfly smuggling was attempted but failed when Chinese officers busted several gang members trying to get 2,800 butterfly specimen into China from Malaysia.

During World War 2, Chinese resistance fighters mixed high explosives into flour for smuggling. The flour could be used for pancakes and safely eaten. Uneaten pancakes could still be used as explosives.

An American actor named Erik Audé was tricked into smuggling drugs in Pakistan and tortured horribly for 3 years while being able to make deals with the guards and smuggle items in.

In 2011, Norway went through a nationwide butter shortage, where smugglers would often get caught smuggling butter and online auctions for one packet of butter reached as high as $77.

Harriet Tubman used opium to keep small children subdued and quiet while smuggling them on the Underground Railroad.

Carrier pigeons are regularly used to smuggle drugs across borders and into prisons. A single pigeon can carry over $3000 of cocaine.

A Malaysian man named Anson Wong tried to smuggle 95 snakes on a plane from Penang to Jakarta. He almost succeeded when suddenly his baggage containing the snakes burst open.