New meaning to Black Death as smuggled caviar is found stashed in a... coffin

Police stopped the makeshift funeral car after becoming suspicious about a Land Cruiser Prado that appeared to be driven in a way to divert their attention from the hearse.

Officer Anton Shpilev said: 'We decided to check this vehicle and not to pay attention to the Land Cruiser Prado.' His instinct paid dividends. The 'nervous' driver told the police patrol that he was carrying the body of a deceased woman to the city of Khabarovsk. 'He had no death certificates with him,' said a police source. 

Opening the coffin, the police discovered there was no corpse inside, but a huge quantity of black caviar. 

Wreaths in the hearse hid more cans of the precious food. In total, there were 956 containers of caviar, some 480 kilograms. The 31-year-old driver and his 33-year-old 'undertaker' denied being involved in the smuggling operation.

They told police they were approached by an unknown man, who promised to pay them 25,000 roubles ($400) to transport the 'dead body' from the village Mayak to a Khabarovsk morgue. The coffin was loaded into the hearse by 'unknown people', they claimed. 

Caviar production is strictly regulated in Russia amid fears for the extinction of sturgeon populations.