Airport officials say the young woman -- whose identity was not released -- began to complain of labour pains after arriving at Cairo airport from Dubai, hoping to speed her way through customs.
A customs officer checked her passport and was surprised by the number of stamps it held, showing too much recent travel for a woman "in her condition," the source said.
So he asked a female colleague to frisk her. The search exposed what was really under the woman's clothing -- 48 mobile phones worth more than 17,000 dollars.
The "mother" was immediately arrested.