Nothing like this had ever happened at Ben-Gurion International Airport before: A routine customs inspection uncovered an attempt to smuggle two unmanned aerial vehicles into Israel.

The incident began when a Jewish citizen of Mexico tried to go through the "nothing to declare" lane with three suitcases. Something in his behavior aroused the customs inspectors' suspicions, so they asked him to open the bags.

To their astonishment, they found two dismantled drones inside. The unusual cargo had gone undetected on both legs of the man's flight to Israel: from Mexico to France, and then from Paris to Tel Aviv via El Al.

The inspectors detained the man for questioning and summoned security agents. They, too, were stunned at the sight of the cargo.

The Mexican visitor, however, didn't appear to be fazed by the fuss. When asked to explain the drones, he calmly explained that the Mexican authorities had bought them from the Israeli company Aeronautics Defense Systems. But they had broken down, so he was bringing them to the company's Yavneh factory for repairs.

Yet when asked for his local contact person, the hotel he planned to stay at and how long he would be here, the interrogators thought his answers seemed confused. Moreover, he carried no documents to support his story.

The customs inspectors then called Aeronautics, which confirmed that it really did sell the drones to the Mexican authorities three years ago.

The drones have a range of several dozen kilometers and are meant for military or semi-military use.

But the company said it only did repairs by prior appointment, and it had never received an order for repair work on these drones or been informed of the visitor's intended arrival.

The inspectors assembled the parts and discovered that they did indeed make two complete drones. At least for now, why they were smuggled in remains a mystery.