During my travels, there have been some memorable incidents with customs and security officials in different countries. They could have landed me in a spot of bother if things went south, but when I look back at them now the absurdity of it brings a smile to my face.
Srinagar - It was one of my first trips with my beloved green backpack. I had written my nickname "GUNS" in big bold letters on the backpack, as if it was the most natural thing to do.
Now, this incident happened at a time when security was tight in Srinagar because of a few terrorist incidents in the capital city. There were armed personnel stationed in different corners of the airport, including the baggage claim area. As my backpack on the conveyor belt came towards me, I froze with shock at what I saw - "GUNS" was all I could focus on. I looked around to see if any of the security guys were looking in my direction and allowed the backpack to take another round on the belt. When noone was watching, I took the backpack and tried to hide the words, which were really inappropriate for the current situation in J&K. Then again, my baggage had been scanned and no troublemaker would foolishly advertise his weapons, like I did. But, those were the early days in my travels and I was prone to getting nervous easily.
Vietnam - I loved Vietnam and the trip was a breeze. I was really intrigued by the tunnel network of Vietnamese when they were fighting the Americans. During my time there, I fired a rifle for the first time and took some bullets as souvenirs. It occupied a pride of place in my collection and I forgot all about it while taking the flight back home. My check-in was smooth and pretty soon, I was waiting at the departure gate waiting for boarding to begin. I was observing the crowd when all of a sudden, I heard a voice announcing some instructions to a passenger taking the flight to India. When it was repeated again, I strained to hear who was being called. To my utter shock and disbelief, I heard my name and it was still a guess, as my name spoken by Vietnamese sounds nothing like my name at all. When the instruction was repeated again, I checked with the airline staff on what I needed to do. They directed me to the baggage screening area, where the security staff had a look at my passport and took me inside a room. I was really nervous about it and wondered if anyone had slipped some illegal cargo in my backpack without me knowing. But, the guys there were very polite and asked me if I was carrying any bullets with me. I remembered my collection and took it out of my bag to show them the souvenirs. They said that these bullets cannot be taken on board and I asked them if there is some way of carrying at least one of them as a souvenir. Unfortunately, they refused and I had to throw the bullets away before my baggage was cleared to be loaded onto the flight. This process took quite a while and by the time I reached the departure gate, I realized that I was the last one to board the flight and the airline staff was waiting for me to show up, to close the gate. In the end, I was thankful that I had been paying attention to the announcement or else, my bag would not have been cleared for the flight and recovering it from India would have been a painstaking process.
Manchester - I had been backpacking in Europe for quite a while before I landed in UK. After a month or so, I took a Swiss Air flight back home to India. It was at Manchester airport that I was caught and held up in a room for almost an hour. At the airport, everything was going smoothly till I was asked to go to the baggage screening area to complete my check-in formalities. As my bag was being scanned, the scanner stopped with a loud beep and for a moment, I thought there was a problem with the machine. However when the attendant asked me to come forward and confirm once again that it was indeed my bag, I realised this was not a snag. He told me there is an issue with the contents of my backpack and he will have to call the airport security to sort out the matter. Then, he cordoned off the area and asked other passengers to use a different baggage scanner, located a few metres away. A couple of them did not look happy at this prospect and were looking at me strangely, as if I was holding some illicit cargo. I waited for the senior members of the security staff and engaged in idle chit chat with the attendant. As the situation relaxed, he turned the screen towards me and asked me the reason I was carrying bullets in my bag. For a moment or two, I was too stunned to speak. Then, it hit me what he was referring to, and I told him that I had bought a bullet key ring as a souvenir in Italy. Since I had been taking bus journeys in Europe, I forgot the fact that it might be an issue when you take a flight (my previous experience in Vietnam should have alerted me!) and strangely, the flight I took from Portugal to UK did not detect this issue - or it was ignored! I was not allowed to open my backpack and retrieve the key ring, as we had to wait for the seniors. After 30-35 minutes, two female officers came to the room and inquired about the issue. Their calm demeanour put me at ease instantly and when they asked me to remove the item from the bag, I used the monitor to identify the location of the tiny key ring in my backpack. When I retrieved it for them, they said it should not be an issue. However, they advised me that for safety's sake, I should discard it as a baggage check on my onward flight from Zurich might create an issue. I thought about it and threw it in the garbage bin with some reluctance. I was good to go and after thanking them for their support, I proceeded to the immigration counter.
Thailand - This incident happened when I was traveling for work. I was meeting customers who were interested in buying starch from our company. The white powder samples were neatly packed and kept in my bags, so that I could give it to customers during our meetings. The powder can look somewhat similar to cocaine and to keep interrogation short at customs, we used to carry the company declaration with us explaining why we are having so many starch samples in our baggage.
Bangkok is notorious for drug peddling and the airport is strict with its baggage checks. Therefore, I was kinda prepared for questions to be asked. Soon enough, my bag was singled out and placed separately to be opened & examined. As soon as they saw the packaged powder, two or three officials surrounded my bag and started asking questions. But, the problem was I did not understand a word they were speaking. I showed them my company declaration and tried to explain that these were just harmless samples. But, I was not able to make any headway - they opened one of the packets to sniff the powder. Even though they decided I was carrying something harmless, they did not allow me to take the samples and I had to dispose all the packets. The weirdness did not end there - as part of the Visa on Arrival process, I had to wave the Thai Baht I was carrying, beside my face and get my photograph taken to prove I had enough funds for my trip. That was one strange photograph!
North Macedonia - I travelled by bus and it was a nervous border crossing from Albania to N. Macedonia. All the passengers were asked to disembark and get our baggages checked by the customs, as there have been a lot of cases of drug smuggling across the border in recent years. It was not a surprise to see that everyone had packs of cigarettes in their bag, which had to be inspected by the officials. One guy was asked to smoke to ensure that it was normal tobacco and nothing more. A couple from Holland were asked why they do not have weed in their bags. When my turn came and I said I am from India, the officer was pleasantly surprised and asked me if I have cigarettes. When I said "no", he almost fell over (being the only guy in the room who did not have cigarettes in his bag) and delivered a classic one liner which will be difficult to forget for a long time - "Then, I guess you have drugs". I did not know whether to laugh or give a smart ass reply to that but all I could say was a sheepish "Nope". He checked my bags and let me off wondering what this non smoking Indian guy is doing in Macedonia, of all places. Luckily, there were noone carrying illicit or dangerous cargo and after the passport scan, we were allowed to enter North Macedonia.
Bhutan - I had taken a bus from Siliguri to the border town of Pheuntsholing. I was planning to stay the night there after taking the permit to enter Bhutan. I was made to wait quite a while and all sorts of people in groups were allowed to enter before me for the permit. After a while, I was called inside to face a middle aged lady with a very motherly attitude. First thing she wanted to know was why I was traveling alone. When I replied that I have been backpacking for a long time and none of my friends could join me, I could see the bewildered look on her face. She was not convinced at all and practically dissuaded me by telling all sorts of things which can go wrong when you are traveling solo. If something bad happened to me, whose responsibility will it be? She wanted to know what kick do I get by traveling alone. Knowing fully well that there was no point arguing with her, I simply said that Bhutan is such a lovely place and I just want an opportunity to explore the country. She made me give the contact details of my parents and with a reluctant nod of her head, signed the permit with a condition that if I do not report back in a week's time, she will ask someone to call me or my parents. After this strange encounter, I went in search of a place to stay and I was lucky to find a roof over my head before the heavens opened in full flow. The next day, I took the 6 hour bus journey to Thimpu. There were 3 check posts where you needed to get the permit stamped, but I did not know this rule and missed the first check post. The driver had stopped the bus there but did not divulge any details, expecting everyone to know the procedure, I guess. My fellow passengers were all from Bhutan and as noone got down from the bus, the driver continued the journey. However, at the second check post, the officer asked me to come out with my permit. When he saw that the first stamp was missing, he told me in no uncertain terms that I cannot be allowed to proceed unless I go back and get the first stamp. I feigned ignorance and requested him to consider my case as I did not have any means of transport to go back to the first check post. After 15 mins of back and forth which was making my fellow passengers impatient, the bus driver came out and pleaded my case too. With a pitiful look at my face, the officer finally agreed with a warning that I will be more careful in future. Thanking him profusely and my lucky stars, I rushed back to the bus before he had a second thought. The entire trip turned out to be awesome, despite the initial hiccups I faced.
Slovenia - I was with a couple of German friends for this border check and everyone breezed through the checkpoint except me, of course! What happened was that the Slovenian officer wanted to check my fingerprints on the system. He did not find any record for it and he asked me to scan all my fingers. He even asked me which one have you got scanned when you got the visa. I told "all of them" but after calling his senior on the phone, he let me through even though there were no fingerprint records of mine on the system. I was calm about the whole situation, after the multiple border checks I have faced on this trip but it was quite amusing (and touching) to see my German friends get worried about what happened to me, as they have never faced such a situation with a German passport/ID. Later, I realised that I had got my fingerprints taken only for UK/US visa and not for Schengen visa, as it has always been renewed without any need to go to VFS/French Embassy for any formalities. Anyway, all's well that ends well.
Assam/Meghalaya - During the scenic trip from Guwahati to Shillong, we passed a dam and when we were crossing the bridge, I took out my phone to click a few photos. Out of nowhere, I saw a security guard materialize in front of our cab asking the driver to stop. He asked me to get out and forcibly took the phone from me. He stuck to his stand that photography is not allowed near the dam - I told him that he could delete the photos but no amount of pleading changed his mind. We argued back and forth for 15-20 mins when the driver jumped in with a typical Indian jugaad to the problem. He asked me to pay off the guard and get my phone back, so that we can resume our journey. After some more haggling wherein I parted with 500 bucks and a promise to never photograph dams in future, he allowed me to leave. For a long while after that episode, I refrained from taking shots of dams !
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