I was handed a secret military radar station
It was a long time ago and I've since emigrated, but I'm still a bit nervous about telling this story.
This incident happened in the run-up to the first Gulf War. I was living in the UK, and I had a small sideline importing hand-crafted ornaments from Thailand. The Customs shed at the local airport called me to say that one of my shipments was ready for collection, containing seven boxes of assorted ornaments. When I arrived, I was surprised to find that the boxes were unusually well packed - usually they were scruffy re-used cardboard boxes. But the Customs people assured me me that they were definitely my shipment, so I loaded them up and took them home.
I got the boxes home and started opening them up, helped by my neighbour, who wanted to see what goodies had arrived this time. I was rather surprised when the first box revealed a rather complicated-looking piece of electronics, accompanied by a label saying "Secret. To be opened at secure location only".
My neighbour wanted to plug it in to see what it would do, but I decided that was unwise (probably would have targetted a cruise missile on me. or something). I immediately called up the Customs people, and found myself talking to a very relieved Customs officer.
"Err, I think you've handed me the wrong boxes"
"Heck, I'm glad to hear from you. We were just about to send a load of lacquerware and silk fans to the local US airforce base. We've given you their new military radar station"
"What shall I do with it?"
"Please bring it back, but very carefully. It's worth a fortune"
"well, OK. But there's no way I'm insured for a cargo like that"
" Right, please just drive very carefully"
I got the boxes back to them without any more trouble, and swapped them for my Thai ornaments.
I never heard anything more after that. I assume the equipment was part of the preparation for the pending war with Iraq.