Italian Airport Security Officers Were Shocked When They Discovered This Item in a German Professor's Carry-On Luggage

A German professor was arrested at an airport Monday after he attempted to bring a human skull with him onto a plane.

The professor was about to board a flight from Rome's Fiumicino Airport to Dusseldorf when he was stopped at the security gate at Terminal 1, according to the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero. Security officers apprehended him when they discovered the skull inside his carry-on suitcase. When he was asked why he had a human skull in his possession and why he was trying to take it with him on his flight, the professor claimed to have bought it from a market stall in Rome the previous day for 50 euros.

Although the professor maintained that he intended to use the skull, which was "well polished but without its lower jaw," for scientific purposes only, the border police charged him with illegal possession of human remains, according to The Local. The skull was removed from his possession and forwarded on to Italy's Scientific Police so that its origin could properly be determined.

(H/T: Daily Mail)

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