They say you can’t put a price on true love, but it seems you can put a price on your Russian bride and it’s less than the cost of a train ticket from Moscow to Nice.

A Frenchman was caught trying to smuggle his Russian wife into France when officials opened his suitcase [below right], which had drawn attention due to its large size. Perhaps he had blown his travel budget on escargot and baguettes and was trying to save a few bucks?

No, it turns out he never quite did his homework and was trying to smuggle his bride into the EU when they were nabbed on the border of Poland and Belarus. This, taken from ABC News, is why it is important to understand the legalities of cross-border travel:

…the wife needn’t have traveled as hand luggage at all because non-E.U. citizens can visit Poland freely provided they prove they are married to an E.U.-citizen.

“Had she been sitting next to her husband,” [border guard spokesman Dariusz] Sienicki said, “she would have made it through without incident.”

The couple could now face up to three years in jail for attempting to avoid border control. I guess a bird in the bag is worth three in the cell.

[source:abc]