Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/09/11
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> -----Original Message-----
> From: B. D. Colen [SMTP:bdcolen@earthlink.net]
> Sent: Friday, September 11, 1998 10:22 AM
> To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
> Subject: RE: [Leica] Re: Airport security
>
>
> . A police officer would mark it, and it would get
> > loaded. No mark, no load, the bag got left. It was good to know your bag
> > was on your plane, but this was in the 70's before it was fashionable
> for
> > terrorists to blow themselves up for the cause, the process would
> probably
> > not be as comforting today!!!
> > Noel
>
> Security? Security? I'll tell you about security...
> Jan. 93, Passing through Ethiopia en route to Dijbuti (sp?) and northern
> Somalia.
>
> At the Addis airport the passengers were told to go onto the tarmac and
> identify our bags. THEN the bags were sent to Xray. I was then summoned to
> Xray by a military type, who pointed at one of my bags sitting in the
> machine and asked "what is that?" He was pointing to an Xray image of a
> package of 24 AA batteries - which, Lord knows, looked pretty sinister.
> I said, "Oh, that's a package of batteries."
> They all looked at each other and said, "Oh." And proceeded to load the
> bag
> without opening it to see what was really there...
> BUT...As we each boarded the plane we were patted down, literally head to
> foot - they looked under my Tilly hat - and our carry ons, including photo
> gear, etc., was carefully examine.
> The entire procedure was more than a little puzzling, until I left the
> plane
> when it landed. We exited through the rear of the plane and going out
> could
> see that all the seats in the back half of the cabin were stacked with
> cloth
> bags of sticks - they looked something like LL Bean fire starter kindling
> bags. In fact, they were bags of kat (sp?), a mild simulant that the
> Somalis, and many other peoples in that part of the world, virtually live
> on. They spend their days doing what ever their work or leisure activity
> may
> be, chewing on the sticks.
>
> The bottom line, I was on the Ethiopian Air, government sanctioned, dope
> delivery run from Addis to Dijubuti!
>
> (And this has nothing to do with Leicas, as I was using Olympus equipment
> at
> the time :-) )
[Buzz]
Djibuti and Khat {English equivalents}. You should have gone
through El Al security in Nairobi getting on the plane from Jo'berg to Lud
in 1974!
Buzz