Foreigners To Give 10 Fingers to US Customs

by Iva Skoch on

Travel to the US will, once again, get a little bit more annoying for foreigners. Since 2004, the Homeland Security Department has been collecting their index-finger prints, gathering a whopping 90 million sets of prints. Is this ultra-private information safe with the US government? Who knows.

That was apparently only the beginning. The new security program, called US-VISIT, will require foreigners to get all 10 fingerprints scanned. Homeland security spokesman Russ Knocke said to USA Today that biometrics can be a game-changer: “They represent what terrorists fear most – an increased likelihood of getting caught.”

That’s very interesting, Russ. I thought the entire problem with the war of terror is that we have no idea what terrorists want. Clearly, we now do. They are petrified of getting caught. OK then.

By March, foreigners arriving at the following airports will have to provide 10 fingerprints:

• Washington, D.C. area (Dulles)

• Boston

• Chicago (O’Hare)

• Detroit

• Atlanta

• Houston (Intercontinental)

• Miami

• New York (Kennedy)

• Orlando

• San Francisco

Source: Homeland Security Department

The Department of Homeland Security has got your Number. Literally.

by Grant Martin on

Naturally, I left my passport at the Detroit airport last Monday. At 9:35 as I lay in bed gchatting Saturday morning, my phone rings.

“Hey, this is so and so at the Mac Terminal customs office. Just wanted to let you know that we’ve got your passport.”

“Really? Didn’t even know that I lost it. I’ll pick it up on my way to Prague next week.”

Et cetera.

It gives you a warm fuzzy feeling inside when the bureaucracy actually does its job, things find themselves in the right place and the system works. It gives you a creepy feeling inside though when you realize that the business card I have taped to the back page of my passport doesn’t have my mobile phone number on it.

I wonder what else is in my file at DHS. Personally, I don’t care how intrusive it is — I’ve got nothing to hide. They can implant a tracking device in my arm and send helicopters to follow me around, as long as my passport finds its way home before I go on my next journey.

I never liked that passport picture. It’s no wonder that I can’t lose it.

Norwegian Customs Handled By Machine

by Jonathon Morgan on

Next time you’re traveling through Norway and have goods to declare, chances are your transaction will take place at one of the world’s first automatic customs tellers.

The Finance Minster is excited because the move leaves his “personnel to fight more serious smuggling,” and I agree. You can always tell with customs officials are bored — they grab the first shaggy-looking college student they can find, haul him off to the side, and rifle through his stuff. Just because he’d had an 8-hour layover in Amsterdam and looks (and smells) a little inebriated. (Just to use a completely hypothetical example.)

Good news for travelers is that the device appears to work. The first woman went through customs using the automated teller this weekend, declared an extra bottle of wine, and paid her fee with a bank card.

Hopefully we’ll be seeing more of these worldwide in the months ahead.

“Strangely Fat” Woman at Customs Actually Wearing Girdle of Live Crocodiles

by Jonathon Morgan on

It must be difficult to look inconspicuous with 3 live crocodiles strapped to your waist.

At least it was for one woman trying to cross through the Gaza-Egypt border crossing. Despite the woman’s veil, and many layers of clothing, border guards couldn’t help but notice something odd.

When a female guard did a body search on the “strangely fat” woman, the truth was revealed — 3, 20-inch-long crocodiles hidden under her loose robe.

The woman said she “was asked” to carry the animals — that, incidentally, could each be sold for the equivalent of 2 months of her salary. And while the events initially caused panic, in the end, “everyone was admiring a woman who is able to tie crocodiles to her body,” said Maria Telleria, spokeswoman for the European observers who run the crossing.

Seems a little more exciting than the cigarettes, prescription drugs and car parts that border guards usually confiscate from travelers.

Austrailian Smuggles Asian Fish In Her Dress

by Jonathon Morgan on

Usually, the residents’ line at customs is a fairly straightforward experience. While non-residents are grilled about their plans, their luggage, etc, those returning home do little more than flash their passport to customs officers as they breeze through to baggage claim.

But when customs officers hear “flipping noises,” chances are, they’ll suspect something fishy.

That’s what happened with Sharon Naismith, a 45 year-old Australian woman who was caught in June 2005 at a Melbourne airport, trying to smuggle 15 Asian fish into the country. She’d constructed an apron of 15 water-filled plastic bags, which she concealed under her dress. Officers found 14 catfish, and one very rare Asian arowana, reportedly worth tens of thousands of dollars.

She was sentenced today to 9 months of community service, pleading guilty to a charge of attempting to import regulated wildlife.

No news on whether or not the fish made it home safely.