Text from Customs Officer willing to do 'dirty' deal

[anonymity]

Hi all,

Wanting to know what you make of this scenario. Note I am in New Zealand.

I recently had an order from Hong Kong for 500 Dianabol 10mg tablets seized by New Zealand Customs. The seizure took place on the 28th of December 2011.

No seizure notice and no contact until today. Received this message from a Customers Officer around one hour ago: (Note names changed)

"Hi John, my name is William. I'm a NZ customs officer at Auckland International Mail Sorting Centre. I intercepted your prescription drugs at our depot. What would you say if I said I could get your drugs to you for a small discrete fee?"

To which I replied:

"Sorry William, I am unsure what you are referring to."

I then decided this may be worth investigating and decided to contact the customers officer via phone.

I spoke to him for six minutes, he sounded young (mid-twenties at a guess) and said he makes money on the side by intercepting prescription parcels. He said that for the sum of $100 deposited into his bank account he would forward the package through to me via courier w/o signature being required.

How would you guys read the situation? I am obviously very dubious, but it is always possible that he may genuinely be using his position to make side deals. I would be quick to conclude this is a trap, but considering this is my first order stopped and it is clearly for personal use i.e. such a small quantity that I would not charged by police.

What are your views?

Cheers,
Anonymity

 

[crixus]

holy shit dude that is one fucked up situation lol.. honestly though bro if money isnt an issue with you I would just reorder and chalk that one up as a loss.. i dunno how it works in your part of the world though

 

[vocor]

I don't know what the laws are in NZ, but this sounds fishy.
You really don't know what the actual motivations of the type of scum that would do this are. Saying that this is unethical is just the start.
If you "pay him off" I would consider that a major mistake under any circumstances. And, you are then ENCOURAGING this sort of BS behavior . . . where payoffs are okay instead of doing what is legally required.
I say write it up as a loss and lesson learned. Maybe the packaging needs changing if you have trolls like that "enforcing" your customs and borders law.
BTW, if you ever meet up with this guy, punch him in the face for me. That is not legal advice by any means . . . but what this guy is doing is not cool or correct for ANY party concerned.

 

[Headholio]

Don't do it.

First- If you get drugs in the mail you can say you didn't order them, it was a mistake. If you pay the dude, then they have proof you did order them. you shouldn't have called him. they could use that as an admission on your part.

Second - A customs dude stupid enough to risk his job and jail for $100 bucks? Putting it all down on a text that is tracable to him and could be used against him? It can only mean 2 things. 1, its a set up, or 2, the guy is so stupid you don't want to get mixed up with him because he's going to ruin his own life and you don't want to go down with him.

 

[anonymity]

Cheers for the replies. Just to reiterate headholio, I called him off a prepay mobile phone which is not linked to me or anyone else as you can purchase the sim cards without any details required in NZ. If this was an elaborate customs bust, what I cannot understand is why they would be going to this much trouble for such a small quantity of a prescription drug for personal use.

 

[Headholio]

Cheers for the replies. Just to reiterate headholio, I called him off a prepay mobile phone which is not linked to me or anyone else as you can purchase the sim cards without any details required in NZ. If this was an elaborate customs bust, what I cannot understand is why they would be going to this much trouble for such a small quantity of a prescription drug for personal use.

I understand. It's probably not an elaborate sting op, but I wouldn't take the chance for such a small amount of money.
It could just be some young officer who is trying to show his boss how many people he can snag.
And even though it seems like a small deal, the frickin United States Congress is willing to take up its precious time with steroid cases of pro atheletes, so you never know what kind of screwed up priorities the authorities might have.

What you could do is tell the cop that contacted you to give you your property, or else you will release his name and the text records to the Customs department and he will be busted

 

[bastiaan89]

Even if he's genuine, what a douche.
Why not just let stuff go through.
Wouldn't cooperate but not just because of that.
As a customs officer my 2 cents are you' ll get way more valuable packages than a few tabs of dbol and only the big ones would prolly be worth risking.
+1 On telling him to give you the tabs or forwarding his name.

 

[rich_89]

Never admit that intercepted steroids are yours. This is an admission of guilt. That customs officer is trying to make you admit that the parcel was indeed intended for you.

Even if he were genuine, which i highly doubt, it's not worth the risk.

Abandon these as a loss and re order from a reputable source.

 

[crixus]

Its diff not an "elaborate customs bust" but what it could be is a bored customs officer wanting to make a name for himself and willing to go all out to make a small bust

 

[bigpokey]

well since there was no update u gotta assume... does new zealand havin a dumbest criminals show?