"Sand War"

Singapore has been accused of launching a clandestine "Sand War" against its neighbours by paying smugglers to steal entire beaches under the cover of night. "It is a secret war for natural resources," said Nur Hidayati, Greenpeace Indonesia spokesman.
The island city-state's size has increased by over 20 per cent since the 1960s and demand for sand for lucrative land reclamation and development projects is higher than ever. However, recent bans on exporting sand introduced in Indonesia, Cambodia and Vietnam have cut off supplies and opened up a thriving smuggling trade. Thieves have begun making night-time raids on the beaches of Indonesia and Malaysia, carving out millions of tonnes of coastline and depriving Singapore's neighbors of their beaches.

Chicken smuggler

An employee at a Johannesburg jewelers has been arrested after trying to smuggle gold out of the store in a cooked chicken. The unnamed worker was nabbed at a security checkpoint set up by Browns jewellers at its head office in northern Johannesburg. Police said the man had stuffed the unspecified amount of gold into the cooked bird and was attempting to leave the premises when he was caught. Following the alleged theft, Browns issued a company edict telling female workers to wear bras without underwire at its Dunkeld workshop. Belinda Phillips, the general manager, declined to say whether the new policy was a bid to avoid interference with metal detectors.