# Customs officer invalidates all airport drug searches **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 26, 2008, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customs-officer-invalidates-all-airport-drug-searches/450654 "2008-05-26T14:59:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2008, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customs-officer-invalidates-all-airport-drug-searches/450654/21 "2008-05-28T14:40:29Z")
[QUOTE=Bricker] Yes, days of anarchy and social collapse lie ahead. If I were you, I wouldn’t even bother paying off the Mastercard. [/QUOTE] I’ll tell them you said I could. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2008, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customs-officer-invalidates-all-airport-drug-searches/450654/22 "2008-05-28T14:45:21Z")
Why don’t they just buy used luggage, then plant the luggage for the dog to find? Why involve a third party, especially one that hasn’t consented? (Unless there is something in the fine print I can’t read.) You can probably get a bunch of used bags cheap, and make sure that the dogs don’t get too familiar with any particular one. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2008, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customs-officer-invalidates-all-airport-drug-searches/450654/23 "2008-05-28T14:48:54Z")
I would also resommend that the baggies they use are properly colored and labeled as being the property of the appropriate law enforcement agency, so that if a baggie gets lost and turns up in a customs inspection, no one gets in trouble because Fido has a stuffed up nose. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2008, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customs-officer-invalidates-all-airport-drug-searches/450654/24 "2008-05-28T15:47:37Z")
[QUOTE=Quartz] So now, worldwide, drug trafficers who are caught can claim that the drugs might have been planted and point to this story. And juries will have to find them Not Guilty because this will indeed constitute Reasonable Doubt. [/QUOTE] And the downside is . . . ? ---
**Author:** ![Furious\_Marmot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dfb087/32.png) [@Furious\_Marmot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Furious_Marmot)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2008, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customs-officer-invalidates-all-airport-drug-searches/450654/25 "2008-05-28T19:17:39Z")
[QUOTE=Q.E.D.] Aren’t these dogs capable of sniffing out gram quantities? [/QUOTE] One of them isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2008, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customs-officer-invalidates-all-airport-drug-searches/450654/26 "2008-05-28T19:27:10Z")
[QUOTE=mlees] Why don’t they just buy used luggage, then plant the luggage for the dog to find? [/QUOTE] Please read thread before inserting foot into mouth. [QUOTE=the BBC story in the OP] The customs officer conducted the test on a passenger’s bag against regulations. Normally a training suitcase is used. “I knew that using passengers’ bags is prohibited, but I did it because I wanted to improve the sniffer dog’s ability,” the officer was quoted as saying. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2008, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customs-officer-invalidates-all-airport-drug-searches/450654/27 "2008-05-28T19:30:50Z")
[QUOTE=Really Not All That Bright] Please read thread before inserting foot into mouth. [/QUOTE] Link was blocked for me. Thanks for the quote, sir. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2008, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customs-officer-invalidates-all-airport-drug-searches/450654/28 "2008-05-29T00:44:45Z")
[QUOTE=mlees] Why don’t they just buy used luggage, then plant the luggage for the dog to find? Why involve a third party, especially one that hasn’t consented? (Unless there is something in the fine print I can’t read.) You can probably get a bunch of used bags cheap, and make sure that the dogs don’t get too familiar with any particular one. [/QUOTE] That apparently was the concern, that the dog would be too familiar with their training bag. The Japanese media has been pounding question to why that could happen without consent. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2008, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customs-officer-invalidates-all-airport-drug-searches/450654/29 "2008-05-29T00:48:36Z")
[QUOTE=mlees] Why involve a third party, especially one that hasn’t consented? (Unless there is something in the fine print I can’t read.) [/QUOTE] I wouldn’t be surprised if there were something in the ticket about that, yeah. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/customs-officer-invalidates-all-airport-drug-searches/450654.md?page=1)