Where's that monkey's passport?

Border police are well used to dealing with counterfeit cigarettes stashed in wheel-arches or fishing boats with a hull stuffed full of drugs, but the latest finds by eagle-eyed officials on the Polish border are really stretching the imagination.

In recent weeks, a Russian-registered lorry was stopped crossing the eastern border of Poland with more than half a tonne of meteorites on board, which officials believe was destined for the Czech Republic.

Although the country's haulers are working hard to promote Poland as a distribution and logistics hub, it is for illicit goods that the country has been hitting the headlines of late. A customs official said: "In total 529 kilos of meteorites were confiscated, including three very large ones weighing 176 kilograms, 150 kilograms and 80 kilograms. They probably came from the same place in Siberia where a meteorite crashed in 1947."

Researchers and collectors can't get enough of the space rocks, and recovered meteorites are some of the scarcest material on the planet. The driver's itinerary listed the cargo as sandstone-derived quartzite and an investigation has been launched.

But customs officials last week had to deal with a completely different animal in the form of 100 steppe turtles that were hidden in a car en route from Ukraine. To stop them making a slow escape, the turtles were taped up and stashed beneath the seats and ceiling of the vehicle.

Customs spokeswoman Małgorzata Eisenberger-Blacharska told the Polish Press Agency that the turtles were "untaped and taken in decent conditions" to the Wrocław zoo, which specializes in reptiles.

This is the latest in a long line of peripatetic creatures that would have Noah green with envy. "This year, our officers have seized the skins of black bears, a lion's skin, protected species of butterflies, even a live monkey," said Eisenberger-Blacharska.