Busy at the Border
Two border stories worth noting:
A guy who deserted from the Marine Corp. 40 years ago was arrested driving in from Mexico through the port of San Ysidro. There has been a warrant for his arrest since 1966. Here is the story. If CBP has good enough records to catch this guy, how come they are constantly requesting that importers "reconstruct" entry documents for them?
This one is better. It has to be, because it includes the sentence "I've got monkeys in my pants." Here is that story. Apparently, a guy and his buddy were coming into the U.S. through LAX with a trove of banned wildlife and plants. "Buddy" was being searched by Customs when a tropical bird flew out of his backpack. It was at that point that he made the above-referenced confession to monkey smuggling. Seeing this, the other guy bolted from the line along with his own concealed cargo of Asian leopard cubs.
From there, the story gets murky. It is clear that the guy made it out of the customs area and apparently out of the airport. We know that because these events all happened in 2002 and the guy was just arrested. But, I can't say whether he took the leopards with him, or dumped them in the terminal. Also, there is no explanation as to why it took four years to arrest the guy, especially when his accomplice was in custody. And, how exactly does someone on the run get past Customs and out of the very controlled environment of an international airport? Keep in mind that this is still relatively shortly after 9/11. It boggles the mind. But, that is less inexplicable than stuffing multiple monkeys in your pants.
A guy who deserted from the Marine Corp. 40 years ago was arrested driving in from Mexico through the port of San Ysidro. There has been a warrant for his arrest since 1966. Here is the story. If CBP has good enough records to catch this guy, how come they are constantly requesting that importers "reconstruct" entry documents for them?
This one is better. It has to be, because it includes the sentence "I've got monkeys in my pants." Here is that story. Apparently, a guy and his buddy were coming into the U.S. through LAX with a trove of banned wildlife and plants. "Buddy" was being searched by Customs when a tropical bird flew out of his backpack. It was at that point that he made the above-referenced confession to monkey smuggling. Seeing this, the other guy bolted from the line along with his own concealed cargo of Asian leopard cubs.
From there, the story gets murky. It is clear that the guy made it out of the customs area and apparently out of the airport. We know that because these events all happened in 2002 and the guy was just arrested. But, I can't say whether he took the leopards with him, or dumped them in the terminal. Also, there is no explanation as to why it took four years to arrest the guy, especially when his accomplice was in custody. And, how exactly does someone on the run get past Customs and out of the very controlled environment of an international airport? Keep in mind that this is still relatively shortly after 9/11. It boggles the mind. But, that is less inexplicable than stuffing multiple monkeys in your pants.
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