Posted on 01/02/2014 1:34:54 PM PST by PJ-Comix
Before you whine about an airline temporarily losing your luggage, think of poor Boujemaa Razgui. The flute virtuoso who performs regularly with The Boston Camerata lost 13 handmade flutes over the holidays when a US Customs official at New York’s JFK Airport mistook the instruments for pieces of bamboo and destroyed them. Razgui, a Canadian citizen who lives some of the time in Brockton, had flown last week from Morocco to Boston, with stops in Madrid and New York. In New York, he says, an official opened his luggage and found the 13 flutelike instruments — 11 nays and two kawalas. Razgui says he had made all of the instruments using hard-to-find reeds. “They said this is an agriculture item,” said Razgui, who was not present when his bag was opened. “I fly with them in and out all the time and this is the first time there has been a problem. This is my life.” When his baggage arrived in Boston, the instruments were gone. He was instead given a number to call. “They told me they were destroyed,” he says.
(Excerpt) Read more at bostonglobe.com ...
This is a crime and should be reported to the NYPD as such.
Welcome to Amerika comrade.
Hey, Globedorks,
That gubmit idiot is of a type that you losers support.
Would that such stuff happen to you losers instead of a talented person.
Morons.....dumbasses....whatever!!
15 years ago I was in the Bahamas. I bought some emerald earrings for my wife, and got myself a carved walking stick. At the airport, they had US customs. They were so concerned about the walking stick—which cost 25 bucks—that my wife could have been wearing walnut-sized emeralds, and they wouldn’t have noticed or worried about the duty (don’t worry, they weren’t walnut-sized).
I remarked at the time that if I had wanted to smuggle jewelry, it would be wise make sure to have something agricultural as a sacrificial diversion.
It turns out that they let me through—after convincing themselves nothing was alive in the stick to infect the homeland. Now, after reading this, I doubt that the walking stick would fly.
Total thugs. Done purposely and out of anger, jealousy and hatred for anyone more successful then the low life that did it. You’d have to be an absolute moron to mistake these flutes for anything else. (which is also entirely possible)
I have not set foot in one in eight years, and will never set foot in one again.
Soon the TSA will be establishing outposts in other places like shopping malls that I will also boycott.
They destroyed them before attempting to even identify what they were? Were they deemed guilty of being bamboo without evidence??
two kawalas. ....Jeezzz. Leave the poor things in the eucalyptus trees.
Just when you think the Goobmint can’t possibly get any more idiotic . . .
I hear Peruvians playing their flutes once in a while with their distinct Andean Indian sounds. What are those made from? And why is Bamboo considered to be such a precious item? That stuff grows fast.
In my line of work I have to fly with peculiar equipment. So far the TSA has removed perhaps $2500 worth of stuff from my suitcases, including electronic equipment, special bits of wire and adapters, and custom pieces they couldn’t possibly even identify.
The TSA are uneducated, power-hungry, panty-sniffing sadistic voyeuristic thieves to a one. I will be grateful when the balance of power shifts back to core constitutional freedoms, about which the TSA and Homeland Security know nothing.
IN THE MEANTIME...
When I HAVE to check bags I fly with something I know will be stolen so they avoid the other stuff. (Value $30.00)I have been right the last three of three times I “had” to check bags.
UPS is a good alternative if you can think ahead.
I seriously feel for him, but he’s learned the hard way that you don’t put valuables in your checked baggage.
...ever try to kill Bamboo?
Bamboo is never really dead.
Just when you think the Goobmint can’t possibly get any more idiotic . . .
They were destroyed? - no way. (Check Ebay and the local pawn shops)
If they were destroyed, there should be photographic evidence and a chain of custody.
If I were him, I would report them stolen.
Not to excuse the demented stupidity of US Customs, but that was a serious lapse in judgment to let those flutes fly as checked luggage. Would a concert violinist check his Strad? I kind of doubt it.
Not exactly. The plants die when they flower, which depends on the variety. The seeds produced by the flowers then germinate and produce new bamboo.
I learned this trick years ago when I worked overseas and traveled regularly. These dorks LOVE their authority. I once declared and paid duty on shoe repairs to divert their attention from a far more expensive leather jacket (which was made in the U.S.A. anyway, I just didn't have the papers to prove it). The oaf was so proud of extracting $6 from me, he didn't even ask about the jacket.
If you have your choice of agent lines, I've found the best ones are old white guys nearing retirement age. They really don't give a damn but are the best detectors of drug smugglers or actual liars. The worst are young minority females who think they have something to prove.
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