In this week’s ‘strange but true’: A German bombshell, Turkish delight, a Dane’s artistic license, toilet tales from Israel, and a menagerie of crazy animals capers from south of the border.

NO LIQUIDS EITHER

A 28-year-old man in Germany faces a hefty bill for breaching aviation safety laws after trying to catch a flight at Munich airport with a live mortar shell in his rucksack. The explosive device was discovered during a security check, prompting an immediate lockdown of parts of the airport. The man told police that he had found the shell during a hiking trip in Switzerland and forgotten it was in his bag. Specialists were able to safely remove the live ammunition and destroy it.

REPORTS OF ABSENCE GREATLY EXAGGERATED

In a scene worthy of a comedy sketch, a Turkish man joined a search party for a missing person not realizing the individual being pursued was him. After Beyhan Mutlu, 51, went drinking with a friend in a forest in the town of Inegol, northwest Turkey, his wife reported him missing after he did not return home and she heard he had walked away from his friend, drunk. Gendarmerie and rescue teams were called in to find Mutlu, who had gone to sleep in a house in the forest.

He came across members of the search party in the morning and decided to help them find the missing person. He realized he was the focus of the search when they began calling his name. “After a while, they said they were looking for Beyhan Mutlu,” he said. “I broke into a cold sweat when I heard my name. I told them I was Beyhan Mutlu, but they continued to search. They didn’t believe me. The truth came out when my friend Mesut saw me.” Mutlu said he was part of the search team for more than half an hour.

TAKE THE MONEY AND RUN

A Danish artist who was given a pile of money by a museum with which to create a piece of artwork for an exhibition submitted two empty canvases — titled “Take the Money and Run.” Jens Haaning was given the equivalent of nearly US$84,000 in Danish kroner and euro bank notes by the Kunsten Museum of Modern Art in Aalborg. As well as lending him the notes, the museum also paid him 25,000 kroner ($3,900) for the work.

“The artwork is that I have taken the money,” Haaning told a radio show, but declined to say where the money was. The known provocateur said the artwork represented his current work situation, adding, “I encourage others who have just as miserable working conditions as I to do the same.”

The museum says Haaning has broken the agreement on how to use the money, however, it has not yet decided whether to report him to the police if the money is not returned before the exhibition ends in January. Haaning, however, denies having committed a crime and insists he did produce a work of art.

FLUSHED OUT

Israeli archaeologists have found a rare ancient toilet in Jerusalem dating back more than 2,700 years, when private bathrooms were a luxury in the holy city. The Israeli Antiquities Authority said the smooth, carved limestone toilet was found in a rectangular cabin that was part of a sprawling mansion overlooking what is now the Old City. It was designed for comfortable sitting, with a deep septic tank dug underneath.

“A private toilet cubicle was very rare in antiquity, and only a few were found to date,” said Yaakov Billig, the director of the excavation. “Only the rich could afford toilets,” he said, adding that a famed rabbi once suggested that to be wealthy is “to have a toilet next to his table.”

IT MUST BE THE RIVER

Detroit-area Riverview never will be confused with the Florida Everglades, but it sure looked like home to a baby alligator found roaming through one of its neighbourhoods. Police responded to a report of the reptile and found the 2-foot-long (.6-m.) alligator walking in a street. Officers later placed the alligator with a local expert on reptiles. The gator is third to be captured outdoors this year in Michigan.

HOLD THE BUTTER

A rare orange lobster has found a home at an Arizona aquarium instead of becoming someone’s dinner. The unique lobster was discovered by staff at the Japanese restaurant Nobu in Scottsdale, who contacted the Odysea Aquarium and ultimately donated the crustacean. Dave Peranteau, the Odysea’s director of animal care, said the chance of finding an orange lobster in the wild is one in 30 million and the aquarium is really fortunate to have it in its collection now. Due to its bright colouring, experts say the lobster would be considered an easy target for predators in the wild.

WHAT’S BLACK AND WHITE AND LIVES IN A PUMPKIN FARM?

Two zebras that escaped from a suburban Chicago pumpkin farm had travellers on a state highway doing double takes as the exotic animals hit the road during their brief taste of freedom. The young male and female zebras escaped from a pen inside an indoor zoo at Goebbert’s Pumpkin Patch and Apple Orchard in Pingree Grove. They crossed Route 47 several times and wandered through farm fields in the northwest Chicago suburb. Kane County Undersheriff Pat Gengler said police blocked traffic several times in the area, worried that cars would strike the zebras or gawking motorists would get in accidents. After about two hours, workers with the pumpkin patch and the zoo tracked down the animals on all-terrain vehicles and captured both of them. They were not injured during the pursuit.