Are Those Crabs in Your on Carry-On Cooked? Carry On
Sarah C. Thomas October 18, 2016
It sounds like the punchline to a joke, but immigration security authorities and Cathay Pacific higher-ups are not amused.
A Taiwanese man carrying 20 live hairy crabs was turned away by immigration official and told that live seafood was not acceptable for access, but cooked seafood was. The man sought help from a Cathay Pacific employee and used his “diamond access” privileges to convince the employee to escort him – skipping proper immigration procedures- into the Marco Polo VIP lounge.
The man’s plan was to convince the kitchen there to cook the crabs, but that plan was foiled when he learned the food served in the lounge was outsourced.
Not to be defeated, the crab man went straight to his favorite in-terminal restaurant, and pleaded for the crabs to be cooked. Reportedly, it was agreed to that only one crab be cooked, but, by the end, the man had the restaurant cook up all 20.
It is unclear why entering the country with 20 cooked crabs was so vital to the man, but one thing that is clear is that there will be an investigation into the lack of standard operating procedure – what is tantamount to a security breach – the Cathay Pacific employee showed. A fellow Cathay Pacific employee defended his fellow worker’s actions, saying employees are pressured to service their “diamond” class passengers to the fullest, and may have taken this expectation a bit too far. In any case, 20 cooked hairy crabs and an immigration procedures investigation are the result.
[Photo: Today Online]
