Fun on Friday: What’s With That Hair?

I have to admit, I have some level of respect for gold smugglers. They are some creative people. And gutsy. And willing to endure a little pain. Not to mention the fact that a lot of them are just trying to avoid taxes. I can understand this desire.

Speaking of pain, one guy literally stuck gold bars up his rear — two pounds of gold.

Ouch.

Well, today I have another smuggling story. This one didn’t catch my eye because of the pain endured, but because of the sheer creativity. Two guys in India got busted smuggling gold under the toupees.

According to the New York Post, Magroob Akbarali and Zubair Hassan Rafiyutheen tried to fly out of the Chennai International Airport in India with packets of gold paste hidden in their wigs. The duo had over 24 ounces of gold sewn into their toupees. That’s worth about $41,500.

That wasn’t all. The duo also had gold hidden in their socks and yes – up their butts.

All-told, authorities found contraband reportedly worth $382,943.

So, how’d they get busted? According to the news report, police became suspicious of their “bizarre hairstyles.”

Now, I find this a bit curious. Because I’ve seen a lot of dudes trying to cover up their baldness with some pretty bizarre hairstyles myself. In fact, I feel like most efforts to cover up baldness end up in the bizarre category. Think about it – how often do you hear these words uttered — “that’s a great toupee!”? That’s why at the first sign that hair was falling out of my head, I just shaved it.

Now in fairness, I guess if the toupee was great, nobody would even know it’s a toupee. But I feel like that isn’t often the case.

Regardless, the smugglers couldn’t pull it off. Just like my Uncle Art couldn’t pull it off. Fortunately for him, Uncle Art wasn’t trying to smuggle gold in his wig. (Note – Uncle Art isn’t a real person but may or may not be based on one.)

Apparently, toupee smuggling is becoming a thing. Just two days earlier, three men were arrested at the same airport for attempting to hide gold under their hairpieces, according to the Daily Mail. This explains why cops were on the lookout for tore-up wigs.

Then there is the Columbian man busted in Spain trying to smuggle coke under his toupee. Talk about a powdered wig.

As I said, you have to admire their creativity. But I don’t advise trying the smuggling game. Think about it. The only reason we know about all this creativity is because these dudes keep getting busted. And really, there are better ways to get gold.

Fun on Friday is a weekly SchiffGold feature. We dig up some of the off-the-wall and off-beat stories relating to precious metals and share them with you – with tongue firmly planted in cheek. Click here to read other posts in this series.

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