Locked Up Abroad, interesting show

[mudd]

i really dont think this pertains to here, but anybody ever watch these shows? Some of them are pretty good. Most are about people who smuggle drugs or other illegal things out of countries or into countries. They had 4 on colombia. One lady was smuggling drugs out of bogota airport, got caught. Other was a guy decided to drive down the coast on a moto, got into colombia and was kidnapped by ELN. Other two were just stupuid backpackers, trenching through the colombian jungle and were taken hostage. How these idiots thought this was safe, i have no idea. The shows pretty interesting to watch though

[michaelb]

I remember in the late 1960's, early 1970's the government used to run public service announcements on TV. They would show a hippie type being thrown none too gently into a cell by guards who looked like people you wouldn't want to mess with, while the voice over announcer said "When you're busted over there, you're busted!"

[thekfc]

I watch it once in a while on Hulu Plus. For last season, the last 7 episodes (out of 10)  involved drugs. How the heck do these people think that they will get away with smuggling drugs through an airport? 

[benjio]

I watch it once in a while on Hulu Plus. For last season, the last 7 episodes (out of 10)  involved drugs. How the heck do these people think that they will get away with smuggling drugs through an airport? 

It's actually successfully done quite often...definitely never worth the risk though.

[Ricardo1]

I watched a few episodes, generally pretty interesting, although the scenario is quite predictable.  British productions. First one I saw was about a couple (male Brit, female filipina) basically she was pregnant with his child but ex-husband refused to let he leave stating baby was his, Brit ended up incarcerated, etc, eventually with forged passport filipina escaped the country and now lives in Britain. ....   You feel for the couple ...
I agree - when it comes to drugs how foreigners expect not to get caught in a country like colombia (with it's extremely heightened security and surveilance at border points).  I was stopped by military and search in Cali (on arrival) and another occasion in Cali after I had already got my bording pass at the airport.....

[mudd]

hell, i had my stomach x-rayed in medellin airport, looking for drugs and my bags gone through a 2nd inspection many times  after already being cleared.

[benjio]

hell, i had my stomach x-rayed in medellin airport, looking for drugs and my bags gone through a 2nd inspection many times  after already being cleared.

Mudd,
 
I've been through this as well. During one trip my luggage was ripped apart and inspected by multiple drug dogs in Barranquilla, then I was X-Rayed. When I arrived in Miami I was pulled out of line, strip searched and X-Rayed again. I was convinced that someone had  tipped off DAS. Maybe someone that fit my description was suppose to be carrying or something. Maybe I was just unlucky that weekend. Who knows?
 
The simple fact is the "Mule" System is still alive and well. These days they'll send 5 or 6 mules in one flight with the expectation of 1 or 2 being caught. The profit margin of pure Colombian Cocaine and Heroine being sold in the U.S. at wholesale prices still more than make up for their losses. A kilo of pure cocaine goes for in between $1.5 and $2 Million COP along the coast of Colombia, while the same kilo will cost you at least $17,000 USD in Miami (if only buying one). Cocaine and Heroine get much cheaper as you get closer to the Coffee Triangle. The guys with the cartel that organize their trafficking efforts usually know family members of the mule, so when caught they never snitch. 

[V_Man]

Over here there people get caught smuggling drugs into or out of Indonesia. The penalty - death. Unless you are female in which case you usually get a pussy pass and just rot in an Indonesian jail for 20 years.
Either way, I can't for the life of me understand why these people do it.
The only ones I could ever understand were a mother and son who were both addicts. The mother used while the son was a fetus, so he was addicted all his life and then as an adult he was smuggling for himself and his mother. They both got caught red handed of course. She was a waste of oxygen but there he was facing execution. He never had a chance in life.
All the others never had a good enough reason that I could see.
I think a few more are scheduled to be executed soon.

[Jamie]

The thing about that show and some of the other shows on the so-called educational channels is that they take 10 minutes of info and spread it over a 30 or 60 minute program. I guess were just too stupid to absorb the story any faster than that. I’ve seen some episodes, one where an American contractor was kidnapped by the FARC, don’t know when this happened, since I missed the beginning, but it appears to have had happened many years ago. I wished this never happened, but to me he represents how weak American men have become. Even though this happened some time ago, he was constantly crying over his ordeal, they hit me, they threatened me, they made me walk far, they made me carry stuff, and they didn’t give me enough food. How pathetic we have become. If I recall correctly, he was such a mess when he was released that he did not even recognize his wife of many years.
 
I think they are checking benjio extra for every time they don’t check me. I’ve never felt more ignored than going through security in Colombia or the States. I’m ugly and not someone you want to look at, but there’s white powder oozing down my pant leg, do something!
 
Benjio is right most do not get caught. You wonder how someone can take the risk, well if you are not able to evaluate risk you don’t know that you are taking a risk. A lot of these mules are so ignorant they don’t even know what they are doing is illegal or beyond a minor penalty if caught. Some do it under threat to family members, others because of debts owed and others out of love for the man telling them to do it. I am sure the list is long. Educated people will have difficulty understanding why stupid people do what they do; well that’s what smart people have told me.
 
I just got back from the mountains and ran across many Colombians and I am telling you someone should bankroll me to writing a movie script. The amount of comic material interacting with Colombians is overwhelming, you don’t need to be creative, just write down what happened. I’ve got to find time to write. Anyway as a tidbit I entered a house that had a Government plaque on the door that said, “Here we work for the love of the boys and girls of Colombia.” It’s a private house that serves as a neighborhood nursery. I peaked into the nursery room and about 3 quarters of the floor is covered with small toys and learning material as if there was a throw fight. There are rabbits, dogs, cats, turtles, and birds leaving clues that they’ve been in the house, good finger playing material for the children. The house across the street has some type of dirty water sourcing a stream on to the dusty street, the possibilities of water-play are endless there. One child that looked like he had a months’ worth of snot on his nose, I couldn’t bear to look and gage the exact day count, so I took that time to mentally curse the owner of the house and every adult in it. Yea I was feeling the love, until I noticed it was just a spider biting me.
 
Anyway to the funny part, I was using a guide to show me some out of the out of the way places in the mountains and I paid him what would be considered a hefty price in Colombia. He showed me some photos on his phone, and said I can take you there. Great, I’m sold. I accept your price of three times more than what any other guide would expect. After we finished visiting our first destination, the guide asked me, well are you ready to go back to the hotel. I looked at the time and it was almost 9am. I have a better idea, why don’t we eat breakfast and you tell me where we are going next. He said, how about the waterfall, I say great lets go there. He said, that’s going to cost you extra. I firmly tell him I am not going to pay you anymore and you are going to take me wherever I want for the whole day. I live in Colombia and I already know that I am paying you more than any Colombian would pay you. The fact that you pay more than any Colombian makes you stupid in their eyes, not gracious. About 15 minutes later towards our next destination the guide asked me, if I am going to give him a tip. This is the routine Colombians use to hassle you from having a good time. If you were not use to this as I am it would most likely irritate you. As most Americans living in Colombia know, there is always times when it’s best to explain that you don’t understand Spanish. So for the next ten minutes he tried to explain the concept of giving a tip while I told him that I just don’t understand. Now most salespeople in Colombia will puzzlingly give up in such a situation, they stutter, pause and wonder what to do, because they have been taught to bug the hell out of you until you buy something. But since my guide didn’t have anywhere else to go, he kept at, so I had to finally tell him it was bad manner to ask for a tip, as if he didn’t already know this. Later a Colombian tells me he did the same thing to her. This guide looked like he was in his early twenties and I found out later that he is the live-in boyfriend to the manager of the hotel. I suppose his teacher too, because she was as much of a crook as he was. She could have been double his age, but was certainly doubly as unattractive as he was, throw away her charming belly, and I’m not sure what he saw in her. So what kind of guy hooks up with an older woman for money? Well of course I have, but at the time my dick wasn’t working, I was unemployed and there was tumor growing out of my back that had me walking like Quasimodo. Anyway I hope that last line keeps someone from posting how there is nothing wrong with older women, bla bla bla bla.

Edit: Increased the font size so I could read it... - Jeff

[V_Man]

The thing about that show and some of the other shows on the so-called educational channels is that they take 10 minutes of info and spread it over a 30 or 60 minute program. I guess were just too stupid to absorb the story any faster than that.
<snip>

This is an American as in USA thing. These sort of programs in other parts of the world don't do it. I can hardly stand to watch any American TV documentry as a result. If they had anything interesting to say, I wouldn't know because I gave up in frustration 20 minutes ago after the 5th time they repeated the same information. American TV producers treat their viewers as being almost brain dead. This is simply not tolerated in other parts of the world. You guys should go online and download documentries from other parts of the world. You'll see what I mean.

Aren't you being a bit harsh on the American contractor? I take it he was suffering from post traumatic stress. Different people break under different stress for different reasons. How does that represent "how weak American men have become"? I can't say I've cried over much and I'm not American but I have endured extreme stress over a prolonged period and I can understand how that could screw someone up for years. I don't see how that example represents much of anything except that it broke one individual.

[Researcher]

      When I first saw the title I thought it was about women getting thrown in jail "Locked up a Broad" ! hahaha!

    I have seen a few of these shows. The whole time I am amazed that anyone would try to pull the stunts they pull. I wonder if they realize what they are in for if/when they are caught.

      Researcher

[Jamie]

Aren't you being a bit harsh on the American contractor? I take it he was suffering from post traumatic stress. Different people break under different stress for different reasons. How does that represent "how weak American men have become"? I can't say I've cried over much and I'm not American but I have endured extreme stress over a prolonged period and I can understand how that could screw someone up for years. I don't see how that example represents much of anything except that it broke one individual.

Maybe I am being harsh, and I know we all react differently to different stress situations. But crying over his ordeal many years later (5, 10 15 years) I found weak. You're a prisoner what do you expect. Coming off as a weak and emotional man to your captures is not likely to gain you any softening on their part and probably increased some of the mistreatment he mentioned. They are not going to respect you and they are likely going to treat you worse. When the criminals were paid the ransom the prisoner would not leave until they paid him a small amount of money I believe he had when he was captured. Something like $10 and he made a big deal about standing his ground and getting that money back. Yea, you won. Strange he would remember that but not his wife. I didn't mean to use this incident as a basis for why Americans have gone soft that evidence is overwhelming from many other sources.

[Bob_S]

I remember in the late 1960's, early 1970's the government used to run public service announcements on TV. They would show a hippie type being thrown none too gently into a cell by guards who looked like people you wouldn't want to mess with, while the voice over announcer said "When you're busted over there, you're busted!"

Armed Forces Network in Japan still plays warnings like that for the dough boys stationed abroad about the Status of Forces agreement that could send their butts into a deep dark hole of a prison if they are caught by the locals breaking the law.  A uniform grants no diplomatic immunity, and prisoners have effectively no rights.