'Stinking' ape skull seized at Munich airport

The souvenir skull had not been cleaned properly - producing the terrible smell

File photo of a Mountain Gorilla skull (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

Customs officials at Munich airport seized a suitcase containing the "reeking" skull of an ape last week.

The 23-centimetre, 650-gram souvenir had not been cleaned properly, producing the terrible smell.

Remaining fatty deposits in the skull meant it infringed Germany's disease control laws, The Local reports.

The souvenir, which belonged to a man arriving from Thailand, was seized by customs officials and later destroyed.

It is unclear whether the skull had been obtained legally, as the owner could not produce the appropriate papers under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITIES).

Last week, police at Thailand's Chiang Mai airport seized a life-sized doll used to smuggle 200 tablets of "yaba", a widely-used Thai amphetamine.

In 2015, the US Transport Security Administration (TSA) faced a drastic review of its screening practices, after an internal investigation found glaring weaknesses in security checks at American airports.

The investigation found TSA agents failed to spot fake weapons and explosives carried by undercover testers in 95 per cent of instances.