Nothing Technically Wrong with Smuggling Fetuses in Your Luggage
Two women in Miami face zero charges after transporting two fetuses into the U.S. from Cuba in their suitcases on January 30th. So I guess it's a cool new thing to do?
Though the incident occured over a month ago, it went unnoticed until last week, when an airline official tipped off El Nuevo Herald, the Spanish language version of the Miami Herald.
The fetuses, a male and a female, were stored in jars (apparently nesting doll/Inception-style: a jar within a jar) found in the luggage of two elderly Cuban American women. The women told authorities that they had received the jars in Havana from a babalao, a priest of the Santería religion, which combines West African, Carribbean, and Roman Catholic relgious beliefs.
The women were under instruction to deliver them to someone in Miami, which means someone in Miami is without two expressly-ordered fetuses tonight.
El Nuevo Herald speculates that the fetuses were intended for use in a ritual by a member of one of Santería's "more secretive sects," not as an extra-large midnight snack for actress January Jones.
A medical examiner ruled out foul play in the deaths of the fetuses. Both had been stillborn at around 20 weeks.
When questioned about their Cuban souvenirs, the women told authorities they did not know what the jars contained.
In the end, neither the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agencies nor the Miami-Dade Police Department could identify any crime committed by the women.
Probably because the jars containing the fetuses were stored in checked luggage. If they had tried to breeze through with those jars in carry-on (assuming it takes more than 3.5 oz of liquid to transport two fetuses?), oh, man, so busted.
And if you're wondering what happened to the little guys after all this excitement, El Nuevo Herald's airline tipster reported that some Miami residents are attempting to arrange a burial in Florida.
[Image via AP]