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Quote:
Cannabis blunder at Tokyo airport

An unwitting passenger arriving at Japan's Narita airport has received 142g of cannabis after a customs test went awry, officials say.

A customs officer hid a package of the banned narcotic in a side pocket of a randomly chosen suitcase in order to test airport security.

Sniffer dogs failed to detect the cannabis and the officer could not remember which bag he had put it in.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7419969.stm

rollabout
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Considering that the government of Japan has released this news.

The exact weight is known. The packaging would be identifiable.

The person in question would at best be inconvenienced at another airport.

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Um, in no one pissed off at the questionable LEGALITY of this? Customs hiding stuff in people's luggage without consent? (edit: sorry Soubs, read your comment after i posted)

 

ILLEGAL.

 

Also consitering that they didn't find it, what happens if the person it happens to goes to his hotel, opens up the suitcase, and finds it? What happens to his trip when the police get involved? Especially in such a drug-secure place live Japan?

 

The flight was bound from Hong Kong, and chances are that it could have been placed in a forigner's suitcase. What if it was you?

 

Turns out IT was placed in a foriegner's suitcase, but had the fortune to avoid a huge crisis when he contacted the authorities.

 

Still, i don't like the idea that customs sometimes freely use innocent people's luggage to perform tests.

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Amazing stuff! (no..not the weed..the story!)

 

It is fortunate that it all worked out OK - it could have been a Schappelle Corby type scenario, even with the info and weight announced, the fellow would have at best been inconvenienced.

 

There are still loads of people in the world who would be turning the package over and over asking each other - is it? or isn't it? What if one of them found it.

 

Sniffer dogs are usually pretty on the ball - not this one obviously ...he needs to go back to snout school...but a friend of mine was stopped at Perth Airport because she had carried an apple in her bag 5 days previously! What if that fellows bag get's stopped by sniffer dogs in another country due to residual scent - another inconvenience at best.

 

Nup - they should load a dummy bag onto the carousel with the drugs if they need to do a test like that.

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If you think about it, the % of people coming into Japan and then watching the news that evening is probably not that high. Especially if you talk about foreigners coming into Japan. Theres a good chance he could never of found it and then flew on somewhere else (like home a few days later), or found it and not known how it got there or what is was.

 

If it was me Id be well happy cos I could sell the story to The Sun for a couple dozen K.

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Originally Posted By: me jane
Soubs is right, seems funny but could be crazy if that person doesn't check unused side pockets and ends up travelling somewhere else with it.

Which is exactly why I have purchased a tamper proof system for my bags. ALL zippers on ALL bags are fitted with them. ALL are sealed, tagged and signed.

We seal them and sign the tags on the cable-ties before we allow the bags to go onto the plane, check them before we collect them from the carousel and reseal them before we return.
Saves a heap of heartache, and unused side pockets stay sealed (in fact some are still sealed from our trip to Japow in Jan 2007!)

I have a contact website for anyone that wants to ask (PM). kiss
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>If you think about it, the % of people coming into Japan and then watching the news that evening is probably not that high

 

...the guy who found that bag sure was though lol He coulda easily made half of the gaijin in Kansai pretty happy rollabout

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