Originally Posted by
fordfiestas123
I was coming from a latin american country, and I brought back a bottle of some local brand of alcohol. The customs officer asked me if I was bringing any alcohol, and I said no. He could tell I was very nervous, so he sent me to secondary check. When I arrived there, I told the officer I lied, and that I was bringing in alcohol to the United States as a minor. He confiscated the bottle, had me sign a paper that stated I was voluntarily leaving the alcohol there, and let me go. What are the possible implications for me here? I will do an intership in the summer, and the company is running a background check on me. Will this appear there? Am I in trouble? Will I lose my job?
I got caught bringing a pair of pepperoni, a pair of sausages, smoked turkey breasts and 2 litres of rakija (Serbian local brandy) when entering into USA as a student. Everything would have been fine (as was half a dozen time before) had the officer not passed by me with the dog who smelled meat. The officer asked if I carried any meat and of course I said no since I didn't want to part with it
I was promptly sent to secondary screening which I tried sneakily to bypass (unsuccessfully of course
).
When the second officer asked if I carried any meat, again I said no, so he had me put both my suitcases onto the scanner belt. Shock!!! It scanned meat
after which he made a comment "there is definitely some meat in there". I simply said "impossible"
As I was opening the bags for him to inspect it, he asked who packed my bags and I said it was me (when in fact my mum packed me). He had to dig through most of my staff to take out the meat and as he pulled it out, I smiled and said "mom must have put it in there in case I went hungry"
He rolled his eyes and threw the meat in some sort of a container bin. He missed the rakija though (some consolation at least ^).
Now, when my mom packs me, she strategically places each piece of clothing and it is virtually impossible to close the suitcase if you displace anything. Since from previous experience I knew that was going to be impossible, I had the customs officer repack everything since because of him I wouldn't be able to repack again. He refused and I refused to step out of the line. People behind me in the line were cursing me and mentioning my mum, dad, relatives both dead and alive... In the end he did pack me by putting the rest of staff he couldn't fit into a plastic bag!! I smiled, told him it wasn't that difficult and wished him well. That was probably a bit too far, but I couldn't help it
)
After that incident, I never bring any meat with me and I always have to go through the secondary screening.
Sorry if its a bit long a story but the memory still gives me chuckles and I just had to share it