Since alcohol is illegal in Saudi Arabia, a man cleverly disguised his 48,000 cans of Heineken beer as "BEBSI COLA." Unfortunately, he got caught, according to Food Beast.
Despite the complete ban of alcohol in Saudi Arabia that, a lot of people in the country drink, especially one guy in particular who creatively thought of sneaking in beers across the border.
He's not the only person in the country to think of ways on how to get their hands on some alcohol, however, he probably was one of the few who tried to sneak in 48,000 cans of Heineken, after disguising them as soda.
The Saudi customs agency said that the disguises the man used had been pretty convincing.
Check out a photo and a video of the arrest here and here.
While disguising the beers was clever, the man wasn't clever enough for the meticulous authorities.
According to an Al Arabiya News report, Al Batha border General Manager Abdulrahman al-Mahna said of the incident:
"A truck carrying what first seemed to be normal cans of the soft drink Pepsi was stopped and after the standard process of searching the products, it became clear that the alcoholic beers were covered with Pepsi's sticker logos."
The Washington Post reported that the smuggler was found with 48,000 cans of Heineken that he disguised with stickers to make them look like Peps cans. The man carried the booze in a truck which was stopped during standard starch and inspection. Apparently, the stickers didn't look real enough and authorities found out what they were.
According to customs officers, smugglers of alcohol in Saudi Arabia have been quite inventive with their ways of getting the booze into the country.
A few months before, another man was caught smuggling 12 bottles of liquor on the border with Bahrain with. The man reportedly sewed the beer into his trousers.
More recently, Saudi authorities also said they were able to seize 19,000 bottles of alcohol which were hidden along with a rice and tomato paste shipment.
Saudi Arabia serves alcohol lawbreakers severe penalties for smuggling alcohol, ranging from a prison sentence to floggings if caught.
