Americans targeted at Owens Airport?

[KathyV]

Of course it is stupid to carry live ammunition on an airplane; but planting it in luggage would be an easy way to harass someone. I don't know the details of the case in GC and people can always surprise you; but one of the cases in T&C was a retired surgeon who traveled to Provo with his wife to celebrate his 80th birthday. The other was a woman real estate agent in her 60s vacationing with girlfriends.

They were each caught with one bullet within a 2 day period at the Provo airport and both denied knowledge of the bullets. I just can't figure a scenario where 2 such people would feel it necessary to smuggle a single bullet in their vacation luggage.

I read a lot about the Provo incidents at the time because it was shortly before we were traveling there, and the general consensus was that they had been targeted for harassment or shakedown. There was never an official announcement but the charges were dropped and the government announced that they were conducting an investigation into the incidents.

I don't blame the authorities for taking action, that's their job and we rely on them to do so; but I just hope that this was an unrelated incident at Owen Roberts in GC and not a copycat.

 

[PeterNBiddle]

You should subscribe to the TSA twitter accounts. I cannot believe how many people try to carry weapons and ammunition through the security checkpoints.

I also cannot believe how many people use a bag to carry weapons and ammunition and then use that same bag for traveling. The bag will have residue from the ammunition that can be detected and, occasionally, the errant round of ammunition.

As an experiment I took a bag that was drenched in GSR (I used it as a shooting bag) thru airport security about a dozen times. It was swabbed at least 3 times and came back "clean" every time.


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[AggieDiver]

Also avoid lawn fertilizer getting on your luggage, and that will set off a close inspection.

I get the TSA weekly email, and it amazes me how many try to board with guns. How dumb. And allowing even one live round to go in your bag is just too careless.

Now, some of these cases could indeed be set-ups, shakedowns, corrupt cops who get a cut of the fines. It happens. It's happened in my lifetime a hundred miles from my home.

I periodically have to go to an army ammunition plant as part of my job. I always get a bit nervous when they want to swap my shoes when I go to fly home.

As for the targeting claim, I would really be quite surprised if it were true. I just have never gotten any hint of anti American sentiment down there. I know there probably is some anywhere you go...but it is a pretty big step to go from not liking somebody to trying to plant stuff in their luggage. Especially when what they are planting is illegal for them to possess in the first place.

 

[vincent54]

It's a live round from carry on luggage. Who else handles the carry on luggage other than the x ray machine operators.

 

[KathyV]

In T&C it was in the checked baggage of one individual and in carry on baggage of another. They suggested several individuals that had access to their luggage: at the hotel, the cab ride, the porter at the airport, a stranger standing in line behind you, the list went on.

Many years ago I was robbed at the Cozumel airport (it could happen at any airport) but while I was distracted in the shops the thief opened my purse and removed my wallet. It would much easier to slip a small object into a bag.

I am not trying to start a panic, and I have never found the people of the Caymans to be unfriendly either; but the locals were friendly in Provo too.

I had an unpleasant experience at the Provo airport as we were leaving the country. I didn't know what it meant at the time but my boarding pass was randomly generated with the ZZZZ code and suddenly people were not friendly.

Both my checked baggage and my carry on bag were searched 3 times. I was pulled out of line and body searched by female agents twice. People were brusque and no one explained what was going on or why I was being subjected to such intense scrutiny. Even though I kept asking for an explanation.

Just before we were ready to board, after my husband's ticket had been accepted, I was pulled aside and told to wait with a guard without being given any explanation. It turned out that they were waiting for a female agent to search me again but I didn't know that. I keeping thinking of the recent incidents with the planted bullets and I was afraid that I was about to be hauled off to jail.

Plus they kept yelling at my husband to get on the plane but he refused to leave while his wife was being detained by the authorities. It got pretty ugly and they started threatening to haul him off to jail. Finally the female agent showed up and I was searched and released. It was an unpleasant end to a lovely trip.

If someone had just explained that I had been randomly selected to help them test and validate their security systems I would have been happy to go along and it would have been much easier on everyone.

Anyway, the whole incident made those planted bullets stick in my mind as a scary possibility, but I hope this incident in GC was just a coincidence. I probably shouldn't have posted, it was a knee-jerk reaction. My first thought was "On no, not in Cayman too!"

 

[PeterNBiddle]

The simple answer is frequently the right one: the bags in question were used as range bags.


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[DandyDon]

It's a live round from carry on luggage. Who else handles the carry on luggage other than the x ray machine operators.

That can vary with passengers. I use a number of trays for my stuff since I carry a laptop, etc. but I hold the trays up on the belt until it is my turn to go thru personally - always watching my trays, even if they pull me aside for additional screen & search. I avoid using their little trays for small items, too - putting my pocket stuff inside my own bag.

 

[Drew Sailbum]

Security has been consistently finding ammunition in traveler's bags at Owen Roberts for years. One or two per month is quite common. This is certainly no scam that is mimicking recent alleged actions elsewhere.

Cayman law does not distinguish between a firearm and ammunition. Unlicensed possession of either is supposed to be subject to a mandatory ten year minimum prison sentence. That tourists routinely get off with a fine is oft a cause for consternation on the local blogs.

 

[seaseadee]

If this were a single instance, I would be all over debunking the conspiracy theory. However, I have a hard time seeing where a bunch of American tourists independently left a single round of live ammunition in their luggage. I wouldn't say that the whole country is targeting Americans, I would say that someone figured out a way to shakedown Tourists who can and will pay to get out of a foreign jail.

 

[redacted]

It's a live round from carry on luggage. Who else handles the carry on luggage other than the x ray machine operators.

Cab drivers, valets, damn near anyone in the boarding area, "TSA" personnel....

Any ever checked for finger prints - right?