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narcasseJail terms for Ghana drug girls BBC News
Cases like this often make me wonder about the plausibility of things involved, possibly because they seem to occur quite frequently. It seems to be on average that backpackers or at least budget holidaymakers are involved which at first might seem reason enough to presume that they’d be out to make a little extra cash, though in this case considering that 6kg of cocaine would probably sell for something like £300,000 that’s hardly petty cash. But if international drug smuggling rings are going to attempt to sneak something into another country it might actually make sense to target the luggage of travellers that they’d have easier access too because I’d presume that it’s easier to gain access to someone’s luggage in a hostel than if they’re staying in some manner of hotel. So it would presumably be simple enough to slip something into someone’s bag on the assumption that as the citizen of whatever country they’re returning to they won’t have to go through customs when they get there. In which case it would probably be just as simple after having found out their flight details to have someone else ready to steal their bag at luggage collection.
It still strikes me as a rather precarious scheme but since luggage does get stolen it’s probably not inconceivable. On the other hand if tourists are genuinely attempting to smuggle narcotics into the country due to the substances in question presumably being an awful lot cheaper in other countries than they are here that seems like a rather bad idea also. But again it’s not inconceivable because people are forever bringing things that they don’t declare into the country from overseas. Mostly those are harmless things which are often items that can’t be found in the UK. Types of chilli, handmade jewellery, tailored traditional clothing and so on. And since those aren’t for reasale and are mostly for personal use or is a case of simply fetching things for friends that doesn’t really have quite the impact. I’m not sure if the UK would ever enact some embargo on fabric or slippers but since there isn’t one they’re not a particular issue. Food items might be the greater issue there really and probably exist in a moderately grey area simply due to food safety regulations but if I can order tea from overseas sources anyway then a nice packet of dried prawn chilli is probably not all that much more of a problem.
Which is getting away from the point a little because even if people are deliberately attempting to bring narcotics into the country for their own use, though 6kg is an awful lot, it’s still an illegal substance here in which case they really should expect the possibility of being penalised. Either way, it’s a rather dubious area all things considered and seeing as the plea of every tourist caught with something illegal is that it was planted on them it’s actually hard to make a judgement call on the matter. But though I really do have no idea what 6kg of cocaine would look like, I can’t image that it would be all that small and thus unnoticeable volume-wise.
Cases like this often make me wonder about the plausibility of things involved, possibly because they seem to occur quite frequently. It seems to be on average that backpackers or at least budget holidaymakers are involved which at first might seem reason enough to presume that they’d be out to make a little extra cash, though in this case considering that 6kg of cocaine would probably sell for something like £300,000 that’s hardly petty cash. But if international drug smuggling rings are going to attempt to sneak something into another country it might actually make sense to target the luggage of travellers that they’d have easier access too because I’d presume that it’s easier to gain access to someone’s luggage in a hostel than if they’re staying in some manner of hotel. So it would presumably be simple enough to slip something into someone’s bag on the assumption that as the citizen of whatever country they’re returning to they won’t have to go through customs when they get there. In which case it would probably be just as simple after having found out their flight details to have someone else ready to steal their bag at luggage collection.
It still strikes me as a rather precarious scheme but since luggage does get stolen it’s probably not inconceivable. On the other hand if tourists are genuinely attempting to smuggle narcotics into the country due to the substances in question presumably being an awful lot cheaper in other countries than they are here that seems like a rather bad idea also. But again it’s not inconceivable because people are forever bringing things that they don’t declare into the country from overseas. Mostly those are harmless things which are often items that can’t be found in the UK. Types of chilli, handmade jewellery, tailored traditional clothing and so on. And since those aren’t for reasale and are mostly for personal use or is a case of simply fetching things for friends that doesn’t really have quite the impact. I’m not sure if the UK would ever enact some embargo on fabric or slippers but since there isn’t one they’re not a particular issue. Food items might be the greater issue there really and probably exist in a moderately grey area simply due to food safety regulations but if I can order tea from overseas sources anyway then a nice packet of dried prawn chilli is probably not all that much more of a problem.
Which is getting away from the point a little because even if people are deliberately attempting to bring narcotics into the country for their own use, though 6kg is an awful lot, it’s still an illegal substance here in which case they really should expect the possibility of being penalised. Either way, it’s a rather dubious area all things considered and seeing as the plea of every tourist caught with something illegal is that it was planted on them it’s actually hard to make a judgement call on the matter. But though I really do have no idea what 6kg of cocaine would look like, I can’t image that it would be all that small and thus unnoticeable volume-wise.
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(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-28 03:43 am (UTC)And I know it's a bit off topic, but narcotic addicts will do most anything to save the Loritabs and things that they receive in the hospital. Stick them in cavities in their mouth, throw them back up, hide them in their cheeks, stick them in their noses, under their tongues..just anywhere you could possibly think of they'll hide them and you'll never know it.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-29 03:05 pm (UTC)That’s just… addiction is never a pretty sight. Though I do wonder sometimes if at least part of the initial cause of that sort of thing is that the information about what addiction does to people is never just presented neutrally and tends to be shoved at people in such a patronising manner that almost everyone’s instinct is to ignore it. After all those huge warnings (http://telcontar.net/Misc/spam/Smokers_Stickers.gif) on cigarette packets that announce that “Smoking kills” and so on usually make me want to write “No shit, Sherlock” underneath or “So does life” or pick up a pack of the stickers show in that gif to use instead.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-01-29 11:20 pm (UTC)It isn't. I was even told that there are some people that go into the nursing profession just to get hold of the keys to the narc cabinet. And I look at it as this sort of thing like "Oh, they say that I can't use this stuff in an off label use....so I think I'll do it anyway.", or something like that. Yeah, really...I do like those labels in the gif though.