Suitcase Surprise at Dulles Airport Customs: Hedgehog, Chameleons, Elephant Tails, Oh My!

STERLING, Va. (CBS/WUSA) Next time you pass through U.S. airport customs, you'll want to be sure not to get caught with any of these items: a hedgehog, chameleons, genet skins, seed pods, and - oh, did we forget to mention the two elephant tails?

Agriculture specialists with Customs and Border Protection at Washington-Dulles International Airport got a suitcase full of  surprises on Dec. 3, when a passenger from Ghana opened his luggage. Also in the bag, according to CBS affiliate WUSA, were bloody sheets, and a lot of soil.

What to make of it all?

"This is by far one of the strangest suitcases we're ever opened. The passenger told us that the items were to be used for spiritual purposes. From what we were able to learn, the items seem consistent with that explanation," said Christopher Hess, Customs Director for the Port of Wash., D.C., who spoke to WUSA.

"Regardless of its intended purpose, each item posed potentially severe animal and plant disease threats to American agriculture," Hess said. "Customs and Border Protection agriculture specialists were required to destroy them."

The only items to escape incineration were the two elephant tails, the station reported. The tails violated the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species as well as U.S. Fisheries and Wildlife regulations. A department inspector seized them.

During a followup inspection, the 59-year-old passenger told authorities that he possessed only dried herbs and clothing. Among other items, the second look revealed sheets contaminated with chicken blood - reportedly from a sacrificed chicken - one dried hedgehog (see above), two dried chameleons (also see above), grass, pea and seed pods, tree bark chips, soil and a water jug containing soil, herbs and blood.

How'd you like to have been traveling next to this guy?

The passenger was ordered to abandon his suitcase full of surprises, which he did. Customs advised him of the rules, issued him a warning, and let him go.

His final destination was Maryland.

This Story was contributed by CBS affiliate WUSA.