Anyone watch ‘border control’ themed daytime tv programmes?

[DeluluTaylor]

You know there’s always loads of people trying to bring fried prawns, jellied pigs feet, seeds, uncooked lamb into Australia/ New Zealand shown on these programmes?
Why??
Is there a black market, do they just forget it’s there or do they think it won’t be found? I can never work out if it’s stupidity or hubris.

No judgement on anyone eating those foods, O eat some pretty odd stuff, but there is about a billion signs and the fines are huge!! £2000 for two cold burgers!!
I literally wouldn’t be able to afford the fines, they’d have to fly me home again, all over some dried quail eggs…,

The pink /blue drama is edge of your seat stuff 😂

The drug concealments are great fun. My favourite was a shipment of stunning Indian clothes, every button was full of cocaine. They must have taken ages to make.

I like the very angry, very old Korean grandmas.

The voiceover on the Aussie one is absurdly serious, but also really badly written.

There was a nutty and very high woman in her thirties who was doing odd things to distract attention from her luggage. The script was a brilliant example of how not to construct a sentence with a participle.

"Having stripped off all her clothes in an interrogation room, airport security took the suspect outside to the police transport."

...er....no. Even Aussie security don't have powers like that.

There was one episode I watched where there was a massive metal container of some kind that was seized by customs, maybe off a boat... everything inside the container was kosher, but the scans they did of it looked a bit weird and they couldn't figure out why....then they took the shipping container itself apart and the voids of the walls had been stuffed full of methamphetamine/ephedrine or a similar type of drug, which is obviously banned.

Why is it always amphetamines/ephedrines that are getting smuggled in anyway?! 🥴

Joking aside….I watch it with my children about 3 times a week (they are 8 and 11) and the show has provided me with lots of opportunities to educate them about drugs. I’m also pretty confident now that they’ll never try and drug smuggle in the future (be it in suitcases or by swallowing condoms) 🤣

When I see the drug smugglers getting caught, I do wonder why they haven’t watched these programmes as research first. They would have learnt some good tips on what not to do.

I was once selected for a “random drug swab” of my luggage. I had bright pink hair and a Hello Kitty handbag at the time so I doubt it was actually that random. 🤣

I was a good girl though, no beeping on the machine although I swear the guy looked slightly disappointed at that LOL. I wasn’t even off anywhere abroad, was just flying to Aberdeen from Heathrow. I guess as a solo traveller it looked suspicious for that too but I was just heading home after being on an episode of a quiz show. 🙈🤣

I use a wheelchair on holiday and through airports, i am always swabbed like im an actual mule !

I was once reinterring NZ from Bali. In front of me was a bloke holding a mask which had hair and a beard made of some sort of animal hair. The officers let me swap queues as we all knew he was going to be there for a long time. I’ve also been pulled aside after my luggage had been through the X-ray machine with officers convinced I had fruit - it was a chocolate orange

It wasn't yours, it was Terry's 😉

I am on a facebook group for (mostly American and Canadian) tourists wanting to visit Scotland. There are regular posts from people who want to bring stuff to the UK which is not allowed here. Mostly chewing tobacco, cannabis related products, pepper spray, medications.

Most posters will refer them to the Border Force website and say that their rules should be followed. But there is also the one person who says they brought 2 weeks' worth of medication in little pill organisers without the original boxes or prescriptions and they were absolutely fine so there is no need to stick to the rules.

It also makes me laugh that people try to argue the toss about what's food. No-nonsense Aussie customs officer sticks to - do you put it in your mouth and swallow it? It's food.

So what would be the disincentive, then? They’d just do it again next time.

Again

I was talking about them not me!

They get to keep food which isn't a bio security risk, though can still be fined for failure to declare.

They cannot keep any food which IS a bio security risk, even if they've declared it. They do not get fined if they have declared it.

"My mother/aunt packed my case" is an extremely common claim to customs officials and I've heard it so many times on these programmes (I've seen every single one of the Australian programmes and most of the NZ).

It's usually a lie.

What about the group of people who had arrived after a night flight who were all barely awake; they all had an apple each in their hand luggage that was part of their inflight meal and had absentmindedly popped it into their hand luggage “for later”? Landing in Australia and fined.

I felt sorry for them.

I was talking about them expecting to keep the food!!!!

for the fifth time!!! 😡

I watched a few of these programmes before I went to Australia last year for a holiday. I was aware of the restrictions and they tell you on the plane before you get off and there are bins before passport control to ditch anything not allowed. What I wasn't prepared for was that the apple I bought in Adelaide wasn't allowed to be brought into Perth.

To be fair to those of us who read it differently, it's possible to read your comment as if it's YOU who cannot understand.

With all due respect I was having a conversation with original poster and about 5 of you have bobbed in to give a lecture about a question I didn’t ask

if you’d read the posts which aren’t very many you would have seen that

and yes I know it was my miscommunication but am astounded at the level of busy bodyness

it started out a humerus thread..please let it continue that way

You're the one getting all arsey! Is your humerus hurting? 😁

it started out a humerus thread

Brilliant. I see your funny bone is still working!😂

I had 2 over excited customs officers waiting for me after a flight from Ecuador to Heathrow via Amsterdam, nearly rubbing their hands with glee at that major drug route, was on a work trip and totally innocent, they were visibly disappointed at no huge bust

There you go again…correcting busy body