Bryan Adams' guitar 'defaced' in Cairo airport
Similar tagging incident happened after Air Canada flight last July
Despite being a world-famous rock star, Bryan Adams isn't immune to frustrating run-ins with customs officials, with the Canadian singer claiming Egyptian authorities left graffiti marker scrawls on a vintage guitar and other instruments.
Earlier this week, Adams travelled to Cairo to play several concerts by the Giza Pyramids.
On Thursday evening, he posted an image of his vintage Martin acoustic guitar with graffiti on it -- the result of a run-in with a border official at the Cairo airport -- on his Instagram and Facebook accounts.
"Airport customs graffiti on my 1957 Martin D-18 from Egypt. Back to the luthier," Adams wrote.
A number and an illegible word in Arabic are seen scribbled in green ink on the mahogany instrument.
According to Adams, the problems began upon arrival.
"We almost didn't get the equipment into the country, and when we did it was all marked like this," he told Agence France-Presse on Friday.
"There were absolutely no apologies."
An unnamed customs official contacted by AFP said instruments are marked with serial numbers, although usually with stickers.
Customs director denies claims
However, Jamal Turki, director of customs at Cairo International Airport, rejected Adams' claims.
"I followed the big fuss the international artist made on Facebook and these accusations are false," Turki told NBC News.
"We don't write on equipment whether arriving or departing and the international artist should specify which department wrote on his guitar."
Turki suggested that someone else wrote on Adams' instruments sometime between the airport and the singer reaching his hotel.
"It may have been his room number or the car number taking him to airport," Turki said. "The number doesn't mean anything to us in the airport."
Despite the situation, however, Adams thanked his Egyptian fans who reached out to him and assured them of his continued love for the country and its people. He also said the guitars can be fixed.
This latest incident follows a similar one last July, when Adams posted via Twitter that one of his guitars had been tagged with black marker by Air Canada staffers.
Adams is currently on a world tour promoting his latest album, Get Up.