Border Security Pwnage

[fireheart]

Ah, this one was another TV show pwnage. Beautiful. The show in question is Border Security, which looks at customs, immigration and quarantine officers within Australia.

Sadly, the only videos I can find are full-episode ones and the story in question spans out over 2 episodes.

Basically a Bulgarian tomato farmer came to Australia with a keyboard. What's so strange about that you ask? Well, here's what didn't add up:

-He wanted to "swim" since he couldn't in argentina, but didn't know where he wanted to go.
-He didn't mention where he was staying.
-He was acting very nervous, shifting around, sweating a lot, so they thought he had drugs.
-The keyboard cost 100Euros. Now I can understand a high-end brand new keyboard costing upwards of 100Euros, but this was a budget keyboard and looked to be secondhand!

They tested it for drugs: repeatedly. They couldn't find anything, but were still suspicious, so they let Mr. Tomato Farmer go. They DID hold onto the keyboard, saying he could pick it up when he was ready to leave. He wound up leaving, sans keyboard, however a member of the public kept ringing about it.

They plugged in and checked to ensure that the keyboard was working....it was, until they hit the lower end of the keyboard. OK, time to flip it over and unscrew it.

No drugs....instead they find....

a TON of skimming equipment, cleverly concealed within the electronics. It wasn't registering on the X-Ray because the batteries and the like concealed it and nobody thought to check the back. So they got rid of the skimming equipment, contacted the person who wanted the keyboard and got both him and Mr. Tomato Farmer arrested.

[Beckpatton]

I remember that episode! I love Border Security, so many morons such little time!

[Brojekk]

Never heard of skimming equipment...what is that?

[Skelly]

Never heard of skimming equipment...what is that?

It's for copying credit/debit/bank cards. Either for having in say a restaurant or store, where someone can do a quick swipe and have your card copied while handling your transaction, or it can be attached to an ATM, often with a tiny camera hidden to get your PIN as well. The ones attached to ATM machines are often incredibly difficult to spot.

[Shalom]

Shoulda just emptied the thing out, gave it back, and let them go on their way. With a camera crew to catch the expressions on their faces when they open it up and find it empty, or better yet, a note that says "Pwned."

Then arrest them.

[fireheart]

Shoulda just emptied the thing out, gave it back, and let them go on their way. With a camera crew to catch the expressions on their faces when they open it up and find it empty, or better yet, a note that says "Pwned."

Then arrest them.

I wished that would've happened as well, but it would've had the idiots who believe that this sort of thing is faked up in arms. (Yes, I'm sure that they would hold up a few areas of the airport simply to stage a show )

That was the first time someone was caught trying to smuggle skimming equipment in. Some of the other unusual stories involving drugs and other contraband have been:

-They came across what looked like a grenade in someone's luggage. Pin still inside and all. After the airport was evacuated, it turned out that it was actually a grenade-shaped belt buckle, which had shown up in the luggage as a live grenade. The belt was seized and the passenger was warned.

-I've mentioned this story before, but a man came back from Bali with a TON of weapons, all bought as either souvenirs or toys for his 2 1/2 year old son. Most, if not all, of the weapons were confiscated (he was allowed to keep a replica or two I think). He'd also bought back a fair bit of porn. He was allowed to keep all but one. He seemed to take it well though and is just like "oh well."

-Someone tried to smuggle 40 lizards and 4 snakes OUT of Australia, by stuffing them in socks. Guy was caught and promptly arrested and the animals were taken to a wildlife centre. Sadly, due to the conditions they were in, only half of the lizards survived. (the lizards were a mix of rare and common breeds, including shinglebacks, blue-tongued lizards and a carpet python)

-Another passenger was a failed smuggler from the get-go. He was caught trying to smuggle hashish into Australia. How much? .003g. It was a tiny little nugget no bigger than your little toenail. And he'd stuffed it between his butt cheeks.

-One of the more unusual methods for drug smuggling via mail involved having the drug in question as a sheet of what looked like plastic. That didn't go very far.

-Another one was in between the pages of an English book.

-And my personal favourite on the strange mailroom incidents: 250 cloth buttons containing 975gms of cocaine.

Strangely enough, nobody's tried to smuggle either cocaine OR heroin in talcum powder containers

[Sapphire Silk]

-They came across what looked like a grenade in someone's luggage. Pin still inside and all. After the airport was evacuated, it turned out that it was actually a grenade-shaped belt buckle, which had shown up in the luggage as a live grenade. The belt was seized and the passenger was warned.

I have an actual grenade . . . sans the explosive part. Intact, pin and all It looks as real as it is until you turn it over.

-I've mentioned this story before, but a man came back from Bali with a TON of weapons, all bought as either souvenirs or toys for his 2 1/2 year old son.

He bought real weapons for a toddler What was he thinking? Was he thinking?

Just go to show, check local laws before importing stuff across international boundaries.

-Someone tried to smuggle 40 lizards and 4 snakes OUT of Australia, by stuffing them in socks. Guy was caught and promptly arrested and the animals were taken to a wildlife centre. Sadly, due to the conditions they were in, only half of the lizards survived. (the lizards were a mix of rare and common breeds, including shinglebacks, blue-tongued lizards and a carpet python)

Good! I hope he wasn't coming here to the US. We have enough problems with the Burmese pythons in the Everglades.

-Another passenger was a failed smuggler from the get-go. He was caught trying to smuggle hashish into Australia. How much? .003g. It was a tiny little nugget no bigger than your little toenail. And he'd stuffed it between his butt cheeks.

I wonder how big it was when he put it there.

Strangely enough, nobody's tried to smuggle either cocaine OR heroin in talcum powder containers

That's because it was tried and caught decades ago.

[fireheart]

He bought real weapons for a toddler What was he thinking? Was he thinking?

I think a few of them WERE for his son, one of them was a replica pistol that fired plastic bullets. He also had a high-powered laser pointer (anything over a certain wattage is banned here), some blow guns, a bow and arrow and a few other things.

Good! I hope he wasn't coming here to the US. We have enough problems with the Burmese pythons in the Everglades.

Nope, Thailand.

[bhskittykatt]

-They came across what looked like a grenade in someone's luggage. Pin still inside and all. After the airport was evacuated, it turned out that it was actually a grenade-shaped belt buckle, which had shown up in the luggage as a live grenade. The belt was seized and the passenger was warned.

We had our local BP freak out when a woman brought a training grenade to the border. Turns out, she was trying to deliver it to her son in Vancouver, WA, but ended up following signs to Vancouver, BC...

[Helix]

There are so many on the NZ show trying to smuggle in fruit or prohibited food that could carry parasites for out agriculture industry.
They don't declare the food and then have lots of it or they so obviously try to hide it and pretend they didn't understand the immigration form - even though it's available in their language.

We had someone try and smuggle out lizards too, including poor little skinks!

[georgie]

i love Border Security.

especially the ones who tick "no food" on their customs card yet when their suitcases are opened its completely full of food. usually their explanation is "its not food". pmsl !!

[PepperElf]

It's for copying credit/debit/bank cards. Either for having in say a restaurant or store, where someone can do a quick swipe and have your card copied while handling your transaction, or it can be attached to an ATM, often with a tiny camera hidden to get your PIN as well. The ones attached to ATM machines are often incredibly difficult to spot.

and if they're using RFID skimming equipment they don't even need to physically TOUCH your card - they just have to be near it while it's unshielded.

(which is why you're suppose to keep RFID cars encased in foil or metal)

We had our local BP freak out when a woman brought a training grenade to the border. Turns out, she was trying to deliver it to her son in Vancouver, WA, but ended up following signs to Vancouver, BC...

Like a plastic molded one? like this?


Just wondering cos we used guns like those when we did security training in the Navy. They're pure molded plastic - and usually bright orange or blue. I'm sure there's grenade ones out there too. molded plastic so you know they're completely inert. that way you can train in complete safety. well unless someone beans you on the head with one i mean.

[Ironclad Alibi]

My own border patrol story involves crossing into Canada from Niagra Falls in 1992. The young lady in the booth asked where I was going. I told her we were driving over to Detroit. Her next questions was, "What firearms are you taking?" I had none. Later I got to thinking that since I was going to Detroit, maybe I should have taken her suggestion and asked her where I could get some.

[Lyse]

PepperElf - were you the beaner or beanee?

[fireheart]

i love Border Security.

especially the ones who tick "no food" on their customs card yet when their suitcases are opened its completely full of food. usually their explanation is "its not food". pmsl !!

It's more funnier when they try to explain that their food/plant/animal matter is safe, until the Quarantine worker opens the packaging and reveals the ants or similar crawling around in the bag .

I remember two of the more strange cases: the first one was a guy who'd brought down cheese and pork from Italy (he was also Italian). He kept getting peeved that he wasn't allowed to bring his pork in and didn't understand why. Eventually they gave him a fine and let him keep his cheese.

One of the non-food cases from memory involved a couple returning from Cuba with some wooden instruments that were wedding presents. Unfortunately the wooden instruments were a potential quarantine risk. They not only had to pay the on-the-spot fine to failure to declare, but they also had to pay to have the instruments irradiated AND duty on their cuban cigars (250g of tobacco is allowed duty-free).

Another case that also resulted in evacuation was one I spotted last night on Youtube. Basically a package had been intercepted from Tanzania with some suspicious powder concealed. There was some crystallised substance and a yellow powder. When the testing revealed that the crystallised substance was boric acid, they started thinking the yellow powder was also hazardous. One quick evacuation later, they finally test the yellow powder while wearing hazmat suits and discover....that it was actually a food additive. My only question was:

Who the fuck packs boric acid and what looks like curry powder in the same package?!