Click on the image then:
A=zoom in Z=zoom
out ESC=default
The spy in the trunk
On the afternoon of 17 November 1964, a United Arab Airlines Comet 4 landed at Rome Fiumicino Airport, on its way from London to Cairo.
During the boarding operations, two customs officers heard moans coming from a trunk that was about to be taken into the hold. The trunk was unloaded. On one side there was the label with the words UAR Embassy and a warning: diplomatic bag – do not open. Suddenly two Arabs who were standing near the officers seized the trunk, loaded it into a van and drove away at high speed, followed by a police car. During the chase, which had now reached the open country, the trunk fell out of the van and bounced a few yards. When the police opened the mysterious luggage, they were astonished to find a short man sitting on a stool, tied up with belts and wrapped in blankets and pillows.
The man’s identity was soon discovered: his name was Mordechai Louk, and he was an Israeli spy. He had been engaged as a spy by the Arabs who had tried to take him secretly to Cairo, smuggling him onto the plane after he had been drugged with morphine and hidden in the trunk.
Mordechai Louk was extradited to Tel Aviv, where he was sentenced to ten years in prison for working for an enemy power.
