Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe 'Christmas ornaments' were bongs, pipes LOS ANGELES, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- Customs officials at Los Angeles Harbor said a shipment of cargo labeled as Christmas ornaments was actually bongs, pipes and other drug paraphernalia. Advertisement The shipment of almost 860 boxes from China arrived about a month ago, addressed to a recipient in Los Angeles County, but was seized Tuesday, the Los Angeles Times reported. U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokeswoman Cristina Gamez said agents found 316,000 bongs and pipes, worth an estimated $2.6 million. "They're very colorful and big," Gamez said. "Some of them are like 2 feet tall." The items are not going to wind up on, or under, anyone's tree. They're going to be destroyed, Gamez said. Importing or exporting drug paraphernalia is illegal in the United States. The matter is under investigation and no arrests have been made, the newspaper said. -0- Police: Attempted robber was too quiet DELTONA, Fla., Nov. 20 (UPI) -- Authorities in Florida said they arrested a man whose whispered demands for money went unanswered at a Deltona store. Volusia County sheriff's deputies said Carlie McDuffie, 24, walked into a Family Dollar store and told an employee to hand over money from the register in a quiet voice that the clerk either didn't hear or didn't understand, the Orlando Sentinel reported. Advertisement Sheriff's spokesman Brandon Haught said the 34-year-old clerk asked McDuffie what he needed and the suspect repeated the demand in the same whispered tone. The clerk again asked what he needed, and McDuffie said "forget it" and left the store, Haught said. The spokesman said the clerk soon realized what had happened and called 911. McDuffie was arrested less than 30 minutes later and charged with attempted robbery and resisting arrest without violence. -0- Greeter, 82, foils store computer theft PARKLAND, Fla., Nov. 20 (UPI) -- An 82-year-old greeter at a store in Florida foiled a would-be computer thief by making him drop the merchandise, authorities say. The Broward County Sheriff's Office said the suspect tried to carry computers out of BJ's Wholesale in Parkland without paying Oct. 30, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported. Octogenarian store employee Bernard Sobol noticed the alleged thief while checking a customer's receipt and began chasing him, investigators said. They said the man knocked Sobol to the ground but the action caused him to drop the computers. A witness chased the man outside but abandoned the pursuit when the thief revealed a silver object concealed under his shirt. Sobol suffered a broken rib and some scratches. Advertisement -0- 28 Munch works lost in recent years LONDON, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- The Art Loss Register in London said 28 paintings by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch have been lost or stolen in recent years. Antonia Kimbell of the section for stolen works at the Art Loss Register said the works would be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in the legal market, The Norway Post reported. However, Kimbell said paintings are commonly sold for less than 10 percent of their value in the illegal trade.
