Suitcase tampered with, how did this work?
Discussion
Something strange happened about twenty years ago which has always puzzled me 
I arrived back home after a flight from Malta (I think it was) to Manchester airport, opened my suitcase to take my clothes out and on the top of my clothes were four or five empty tobacco pouches (Old Holborn I think, I can't remember), with a few tiny bits of loose tobacco scattered all over my clothes.
I assume baggage handlers from Manchester and Malta were working in tandem smuggling the stuff, but if this was the case why did they just not take the unopened pouches?
Seems a lot of trouble for such low value stuff, I could understand it if it was drugs.
As an aside, another time I was selected at random by customs to go into the side room to have my bags searched and the guy in front on me was made to open his suitcase which was absolutely jam packed with hundreds of packets of cigarettes.....Wonder what happened to him.? I left him being questioned by two officers.
Cool story bro' and all that.
I arrived back home after a flight from Malta (I think it was) to Manchester airport, opened my suitcase to take my clothes out and on the top of my clothes were four or five empty tobacco pouches (Old Holborn I think, I can't remember), with a few tiny bits of loose tobacco scattered all over my clothes.
I assume baggage handlers from Manchester and Malta were working in tandem smuggling the stuff, but if this was the case why did they just not take the unopened pouches?
Seems a lot of trouble for such low value stuff, I could understand it if it was drugs.
As an aside, another time I was selected at random by customs to go into the side room to have my bags searched and the guy in front on me was made to open his suitcase which was absolutely jam packed with hundreds of packets of cigarettes.....Wonder what happened to him.? I left him being questioned by two officers.
Cool story bro' and all that.
Working closely with security agencies, I can tell you that there's a lot of organised crime in London Airports. Drug smuggling is quite common, and you're right, there are international rings who coordinate uplift in one country and offload at another.
I wouldn't expect them to do this for lower value contraband. Likely the tobacco packets would have been used for more high value goods - Passable at a glance.
Malta is quite a hotbed for smuggling - with relatively low investment in security, busy ports, shell companies, etc. So a pretty weak border control into the EU.
Counterfeit cigarettes and, more so now, medicines like viagra, is a booming economy. (Weirdly, Belgium is the global centre of counterfeit cigarette production!). Often these guys will play a numbers game - sending multiple consignments/mules with an expected losses of one or two being made up for by the sheer volume sent. Also, quite often, the 'random' checks aren't quite as random as they may appear..
I wouldn't expect them to do this for lower value contraband. Likely the tobacco packets would have been used for more high value goods - Passable at a glance.
Malta is quite a hotbed for smuggling - with relatively low investment in security, busy ports, shell companies, etc. So a pretty weak border control into the EU.
Counterfeit cigarettes and, more so now, medicines like viagra, is a booming economy. (Weirdly, Belgium is the global centre of counterfeit cigarette production!). Often these guys will play a numbers game - sending multiple consignments/mules with an expected losses of one or two being made up for by the sheer volume sent. Also, quite often, the 'random' checks aren't quite as random as they may appear..
Gassing Station | Holidays & Travel | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff