This reminds me of an Arabian Nights story. A couple decide to go on Hajj (a trip to Mecca) and they want to protect their wealth in the mean time. So they sell all of their possessions and put the money (in the form of gold coins) into a clay olive jar and seal it up. They give the jar to some friends and ask that they keep it for them until they return, giving them some tripe about how much they love olives or something. The friends have a dinner party and run out of olives and open the couples jar thinking they'll just replace it before their return and find a huge stash of gold coins. They get greedy and steal the coins and fill the jar up with olives and reseal it. The couple return from Mecca and get their jar back only to find it full of olives, not gold. So they go to the city magistrate to complain. The city magistrate rules in favor of the friends who stole the gold since the couple gave them a jar and said it was full of olives and they gave the couple back a jar of olives.

I would say don't give anyone gear to hold for you unless you can trust them enough to tell them what it is and what it's for.