Wrong turn into Canada leads to arrest for gun

[VMI77]

He should be glad it wasn't Mexico. Recall that fellow who was delivering a shotgun to someplace south of Mexico and crossed the border and declared it. He had been told it was OK to take it just passing through or something. How long did he rot in Mexico's prison before pressure from the US finally got him out?

Here is where knowledge of how the system works and a little money comes in handy. My father knew a guy whose son was jailed in Matamoros. He was a passenger in a car that hit and killed a taxi driver. The driver immediately fled. He stayed assuming that because he hadn't done anything wrong he'd be OK. But into jail he went and it looked like he was going away for a long time. His father coughed up $10,000, the jailer left his cell open, and the son walked out and got across the border.

I used to hang with a guy from Monterrey who had rich parents. My parents ran a store and every time he went back to Mexico he got cash in small bills to pay various bribes. He had lots of stories of paying bribes...one cop even told him God was going to frown on him because he paid the bribe in Pesos instead of dollars.

[chasfm11]

It does work both ways. Our Canadian friends would leave {stuff} with us for disposal when they headed back north. Being the gracious CG Hosts that we are, we would see to the proper disposal of the {stuff} before it could be declared contraband at the border.

Enforcement of excess cigarettes and alcohol against Canadian citizens by their own border patrol was a constant topic of conservation while I was visiting there. Never stand between a politician and his revenue and Canadian politicians follow the familiar pattern.

It would be tough duty to have to help dispose of excess "stuff" but someone has to do it.