6 ms·

I wonder what the best course of action would be in such a situation? Ditch the suitcase and risk the attention of some fairly unpleasant people? Go to the po

by jiggy2011 14y ago

I wonder what the best course of action would be in such a situation? Ditch the suitcase and risk the attention of some fairly unpleasant people? Go to the police and risk being arrested anyway? There was a TV series a while ago called "Banged up abroad" which documented a number of cases like this. It was quite scary the lengths some of the criminals had gone to in order to find drug mules, in one case they had got an attractive woman to date a guy for a year and gain his trust before getting him to mule for them.

andyjohnson0 14y ago
I wondered the same thing. Best I could think of would be to hide the case somewhere secure and go to your embassy to seek advice. On the whole, though, if you're sitting in a hotel room thousands of miles from home with a case full of drugs then your situation is unlikely to improve whatever you do.
- officemonkey 14y ago
  Once I discovered the suitcase was empty, I would have left it open on my hotel bed, and then I would leave the hotel, fly home, and then call the local police as soon as I was out of their country.
  - jiggy2011 14y ago
    leave a suitcase full of coke in a hotel room reserved in your name?
    - comrade_ogilvy 14y ago
      Yes, because your claim you thought it was just a dumb empty suitcase will be very believable. You forgot it because (A) it was not your bag and (B) it was not valuable, so it was easy to forget.
      - evan_ 14y ago
        Unless they find evidence that you opened it, like your fingerprints where they shouldn't be- or they get you to crack in interrogation. Better to be honest and call the police on yourself so-to-speak, or at least destroy the drugs before you leave the bag.
  - mzs 14y ago
    Assuming somehow I got to that stage, that's the point I would realize there is very good chance I will be killed or kidnapped if I don't do what the people that are observing me expect. I would try to conceive a plan to leave with the empty suit case from the hotel but ditch it shortly before boarding a flight to US. Still at that point I would fear retribution later in US and because of that I might decide that the best course of action is to go along sadly.
- ErikAugust 14y ago
  I have a feeling getting caught saved his life. He was kaput once he got to the end of the fake girlfriend line.
riggins 14y ago
I wonder what the best course of action would be in such a situation? pay attention to reality how it is, not how you wish it was. i.e. don't believe models are chasing 60 yr old physics professors.
- jiggy2011 14y ago
  At that point it's a bit late though. Besides, they could have just as easily persued a younger guy who might have thought he had a chance.
  - jfb 14y ago
    They picked a 60yr old dude because he was likely to fall for the scam. It's like the Nigerian 419 dudes -- their letters are barely literate because they're designed to snare only those most likely to fall for the later, lucrative stages of the scam. Any time spent making their appeals more realistic would only mean time wasted on people with functional bullshit filters. There was an interesting paper from a guy at Microsoft? I think? about this. I'll see if I can turn it up. EDIT: Here's a mention at The Economist: http://www.economist.com/node/21557726 http://www.economist.com/node/21557726
- pikewood 14y ago
  The people who would fall for that story are the exact people they are targeting. They don't need everyone to believe them--just the one gullible mark.
comrade_ogilvy 14y ago
You could go to a police station and ask for assistance searching the bag. You could go early to the airport and ask for the help of a drug sniffing dog. Assuming you are innocent, what will absolutely doom your defense is any indication that you knew you were doing something not quite right and took any effort to not get caught. "Well, just in case, I will do this so it is more likely I get away with it." Complying with the wishes of imagined unpleasant people you have never met implies you are probably doing something wrong on purpose, doesn't it? If that is your concern, immediately book a flight to your home country, pronto!
- jiggy2011 14y ago
  I'd be paranoid that I was being watched by drug dealers who would try and intercept me on the way to the police station. Or more likely that the local cops were paid off. Not sure how much I'd trust the justice system there to get to the truth either.
  - comrade_ogilvy 14y ago
    If you act in compliance with the wishes of criminals, as if they were holding a gun to your head, without them even lifting a finger, you are rewarding them greatly to your detriment. If fear you are being watched is going to color your thinking, rightly or wrongly, then you must get assistance immediately. There is no way to out think imagined foes without someone with clout to watch your back. Even if the local police are worthless, the fact that you went to local law enforcement for assistance will probably be possible to establish at trial. The reason willing mules are punished harshly is because they know they have something worth stealing, so when the package goes "missing" there is an obvious guess as to why. If you cannot keep your willing mules under control, you are instantly doomed as a criminal. Stupid ignorant mules can only be expected to act stupid and ignorant. I find it unlikely anyone would bother to punish them for being slightly less stupid than originally expected -- but I suppose anything is possible. The criminals would be spending resources to harm someone already under law enforcement scrutiny; sounds like an unnecessary risk for no positive gain.
sampsonjs 14y ago
Assuming the cops won't be sympathetic and there's no cameras in the men's room, dump the contents in the furthest stall you can find, without touching any of it. Then get the hell out of there on the first flight back you can get or head to the embassy.
- waitwhat 14y ago
  Unfortunately you just dumped $400k of some bad guy's product, and he knows where you live...
- jeremyjh 14y ago
  And wake up 3 weeks later with your throat cut.
  - Tichy 14y ago
    What would be the incentive for killing the guy, though? Since nobody knows who the criminals are, sending a message "don't mess with - uh, nevermind" isn't very useful?
    - smsm42 14y ago
      True, though violent criminals aren't always known for being driven by pure rationality and avoiding emotional outbursts, and drug trade is probably run by such criminals.
  - robryan 14y ago
    Make sure that they are able to retrieve their product. Less chance of them taking it personally to come after you.
njharman 14y ago
Don't ever do it "on your own". Don't ever contact local police. Contact your embassy / consulate, explain everything truthfully and your suspicions. You may or may not be charged (you've already been an idiot and deserve whatever you get). But at least, you'll (probably) be getting if from your own justice system which will be better for most citizens of most countries.
- kragen 14y ago
  Most citizens of most countries, yes, but in this case he seems to have been a US citizen. While there are many wonderful things about the US, mercy for drug smugglers is not among them, particularly compared to Argentina or Ecuador.
  - chris_j 14y ago
    The article and his Wikipedia page state that he was born and raised in Worcestershire so it looks like he is British.

andyjohnson0 14y ago

I wondered the same thing. Best I could think of would be to hide the case somewhere secure and go to your embassy to seek advice. On the whole, though, if you're sitting in a hotel room thousands of miles from home with a case full of drugs then your situation is unlikely to improve whatever you do.

officemonkey 14y ago
Once I discovered the suitcase was empty, I would have left it open on my hotel bed, and then I would leave the hotel, fly home, and then call the local police as soon as I was out of their country.
- jiggy2011 14y ago
  leave a suitcase full of coke in a hotel room reserved in your name?
  - comrade_ogilvy 14y ago
    Yes, because your claim you thought it was just a dumb empty suitcase will be very believable. You forgot it because (A) it was not your bag and (B) it was not valuable, so it was easy to forget.
    - evan_ 14y ago
      Unless they find evidence that you opened it, like your fingerprints where they shouldn't be- or they get you to crack in interrogation. Better to be honest and call the police on yourself so-to-speak, or at least destroy the drugs before you leave the bag.
- mzs 14y ago
  Assuming somehow I got to that stage, that's the point I would realize there is very good chance I will be killed or kidnapped if I don't do what the people that are observing me expect. I would try to conceive a plan to leave with the empty suit case from the hotel but ditch it shortly before boarding a flight to US. Still at that point I would fear retribution later in US and because of that I might decide that the best course of action is to go along sadly.
ErikAugust 14y ago
I have a feeling getting caught saved his life. He was kaput once he got to the end of the fake girlfriend line.

riggins 14y ago

I wonder what the best course of action would be in such a situation? pay attention to reality how it is, not how you wish it was. i.e. don't believe models are chasing 60 yr old physics professors.

jiggy2011 14y ago
At that point it's a bit late though. Besides, they could have just as easily persued a younger guy who might have thought he had a chance.
- jfb 14y ago
  They picked a 60yr old dude because he was likely to fall for the scam. It's like the Nigerian 419 dudes -- their letters are barely literate because they're designed to snare only those most likely to fall for the later, lucrative stages of the scam. Any time spent making their appeals more realistic would only mean time wasted on people with functional bullshit filters. There was an interesting paper from a guy at Microsoft? I think? about this. I'll see if I can turn it up. EDIT: Here's a mention at The Economist: http://www.economist.com/node/21557726 http://www.economist.com/node/21557726
pikewood 14y ago
The people who would fall for that story are the exact people they are targeting. They don't need everyone to believe them--just the one gullible mark.

comrade_ogilvy 14y ago

You could go to a police station and ask for assistance searching the bag. You could go early to the airport and ask for the help of a drug sniffing dog. Assuming you are innocent, what will absolutely doom your defense is any indication that you knew you were doing something not quite right and took any effort to not get caught. "Well, just in case, I will do this so it is more likely I get away with it." Complying with the wishes of imagined unpleasant people you have never met implies you are probably doing something wrong on purpose, doesn't it? If that is your concern, immediately book a flight to your home country, pronto!

jiggy2011 14y ago
I'd be paranoid that I was being watched by drug dealers who would try and intercept me on the way to the police station. Or more likely that the local cops were paid off. Not sure how much I'd trust the justice system there to get to the truth either.
- comrade_ogilvy 14y ago
  If you act in compliance with the wishes of criminals, as if they were holding a gun to your head, without them even lifting a finger, you are rewarding them greatly to your detriment. If fear you are being watched is going to color your thinking, rightly or wrongly, then you must get assistance immediately. There is no way to out think imagined foes without someone with clout to watch your back. Even if the local police are worthless, the fact that you went to local law enforcement for assistance will probably be possible to establish at trial. The reason willing mules are punished harshly is because they know they have something worth stealing, so when the package goes "missing" there is an obvious guess as to why. If you cannot keep your willing mules under control, you are instantly doomed as a criminal. Stupid ignorant mules can only be expected to act stupid and ignorant. I find it unlikely anyone would bother to punish them for being slightly less stupid than originally expected -- but I suppose anything is possible. The criminals would be spending resources to harm someone already under law enforcement scrutiny; sounds like an unnecessary risk for no positive gain.

sampsonjs 14y ago

Assuming the cops won't be sympathetic and there's no cameras in the men's room, dump the contents in the furthest stall you can find, without touching any of it. Then get the hell out of there on the first flight back you can get or head to the embassy.

waitwhat 14y ago
Unfortunately you just dumped $400k of some bad guy's product, and he knows where you live...
jeremyjh 14y ago
And wake up 3 weeks later with your throat cut.
- Tichy 14y ago
  What would be the incentive for killing the guy, though? Since nobody knows who the criminals are, sending a message "don't mess with - uh, nevermind" isn't very useful?
  - smsm42 14y ago
    True, though violent criminals aren't always known for being driven by pure rationality and avoiding emotional outbursts, and drug trade is probably run by such criminals.
- robryan 14y ago
  Make sure that they are able to retrieve their product. Less chance of them taking it personally to come after you.

njharman 14y ago

Don't ever do it "on your own". Don't ever contact local police. Contact your embassy / consulate, explain everything truthfully and your suspicions. You may or may not be charged (you've already been an idiot and deserve whatever you get). But at least, you'll (probably) be getting if from your own justice system which will be better for most citizens of most countries.

kragen 14y ago
Most citizens of most countries, yes, but in this case he seems to have been a US citizen. While there are many wonderful things about the US, mercy for drug smugglers is not among them, particularly compared to Argentina or Ecuador.
- chris_j 14y ago
  The article and his Wikipedia page state that he was born and raised in Worcestershire so it looks like he is British.