Presidential Palace in Abu Dhabi: strange security rule

Built within the last few years, Abu Dhabi's presidential palace is an immense complex of bloated buildings. It is intended for ceremonial grandeur to dazzle and impress. Apparently nobody lives there. To visit, you take a taxi to a holding area where golf cart-type trams pick you up and transfer you to the entrance of the visitors’ center. 

Gold in the Fountain on the Grounds of the Presidential Palace

An entrance ticket costs about $5.  There is the usual security screening of backpacks and handbags. Nothing usual about that, except that the security people allowed water bottles through. That was nice. It’s hot and we need to drink. 

But then, we watched as the people ahead of us had their belongings rifled through extensively. Their cigarettes and lighters were taken away and put aside in a plastic bin. The guards assured the owners that they could collect their smoking materials at the end of their visit. I get that. It’s a Muslim country. No smoking, right? 

But, when Sally and I reached the front of the baggage screening line, the guards confiscated our granola bars and candy. Oh no!  Not my GinGins! The guards made the same promise to us as they did to the tobacco guys. 

We toured the gigantic facility. Most of the surfaces are decorated in gold leaf. The opulence and scale approach comical. Each door is as tall as a multi-story house. A gallery constructed for the purpose of displaying gifts and honoraria from other nations is less than half full. I got the feeling like I was at a party where the gift table for the honoree is embarrassingly sparse.

Oh, and as promised, we did get our food back. But, what was that about? 
Were our granola and Gin-Gin candies a national security threat or a cultural insult? We never did get to understand why.