Canadian gets ARRESTED bringing THRILLER DVD across the border! (1 Viewer)

[Brian Thibodeau]

As a border city dweller who's heading over the river this Friday to pick up my copy of THRILLER: A GRIM PICTURE (should I even be admitting that now), I read with interest Don May's posting over at Mobius about a Canuck chappie who was actually arrested at the border because they thought it was kiddie porn since the actress looked so young!

Part of me wants to wave the disc in the customs sluggo's face just to see IF they pull the same shit with me, the other part wants me to stuff it in the deepest pocket of my trenchcoat, pull down the brim of my hat and feel like a shameless perv. Which wouldn't be that far from the truth, really, but hey...

The link:
http://www.mhvf.net/forum/euro/posts/49919.html

I'd actually figured this kind of antiquated, presumptuous censorship was for all intents and purposes dead up here, especially considering how much uncut ACTUAL porn you can buy in our Adults Only shops. Perhaps I was wrong.

Hopefully, this is just another instance of a neanderthal customs officer (of which there are several at my crossing) being let off his mental leash. And these people carry guns?

 

[Brian Thibodeau]

Even better, here's the poor guy's story in his own words:

http://cgi.sexgoremutants.force9.co.uk/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=gen_dis;action=display;num=109486788 6

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

Where have you been, Brian?

I had a lovely chat with the censor board when I tried importing the Ilsa series (which I had never seen) and had it seized. I disputed the seizure on artistic grounds, and they eventually released it after screening it. They even invited me to come down ad screen it myself. Don't be fooled that we are free to view what we like up here, Big Brother is watching!

 

[Brian Thibodeau]

Why do i get the feeling that customs clowns get to see more of this stuff FOR FREE than we ever will by paying?

 

[Ricardo C]

This is insane. I'm not familiar with the film in question, but there's nothing on the cover art that would suggest the presence of an underage person in the film itself (and the lead actress, according to the imdb, was 24 when the film was released, so she was likely also over 21 when it was filmed). And even if the cover art was questionable, is that grounds to arrest someone without any further evidence??? My goodness.

 

[Mark Hammon]

The opening sequence does involve a little girl. So if the movie was "thrown in" to give it a "quick look" you could see why customes might question it.

The movie has been available via Mail Order for a couple weeks.

 

[Brian Kidd]

THEY OPEN YOUR PRIVATE MAIL?!?!?

Jeez, and I thought OUR government was intrusive!

 

[Brian Thibodeau]

Pathetic, eh? They seem to be most interested in packages, though, post Sept 11, 2001. But then I've heard American mail is not always exempt from such treatment. We're all being watched to some degree and, in fairness to my country's customs drones, I personally have never had anything confiscated or been arrested for even my most extreme DVDs, but stories like this, no matter from what country they originate, always give me reason to stay vigilant.

 

[Tom Tsai]

They don't open letters. Sometimes they do open packages for taxing purposes since we are supposed to be paying duty fees for purchasing items south of the border.

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

They open your mail in the US as well, if it is coming from another country. I have heard of a number of folks getting DVDs from Japan seized.

Our Canadian customs forms state that they may be officially opened by customs, either in the sender's country or the receiver's.

 

[Greg Black]

Yep, I just bought a CD from a fellow in England, to have it arrive at my house with the flap ripped open and, well, just flapping in the breeze. I was thinking "What the Hell?" until I saw the green tape at the top of the envelope that read "EXAMINED BY U.S. CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION." I don't recall this happening before, although package itself might have seemed "suspicious" to them. Oh well.

 

[BrianB]

Mail in the US can be opened too, y'know. A birthday card from my parents was recently held by US customs.

 

[James W. Johnson]

.

Since when?



I live in a border town , when I go to Canada I get treated like I am guilty until proven innocent and when I come back home I get treated with dignity and respect.

The US Border patrol agents wear all sorts of pistols and they are cocked/unlocked and ready to fire.

Canadian border patrol agents have nothing but their smart ass mouths. The last time I went to Canada I decided I had enough of it...to make a long story short they wont let me back in again. Fine with me but that grude will never fade...I hate the Country of Canada (no offense to Canadians)

 

[Brian Thibodeau]

Must depend on where your border is. Where is Bigfoot Country, anyways? Down these parts, they's got guns.

And th'ain't nothin' like the feelin' ya git when one of your posturing, lookin'-for-a-reason American customs gorilllas actually goes for that gun (the one on his belt, not the one he probably carries in his car) because you give him a flustered look when he darts out in front of your vehicle unexpectedly in a big hurry to no place in particular and you nearly hit the poor bastard. This happened to me, but you only have my word on it. My grudge faded, though, since I still love crossing the border to save a shitload of money!

And as far as Canada using the guilty-until-proven-innocent routine, I dare say Americans are just as guilty of this practise. (Trials by media come to mind). Hell it's human protective instinct to assume the worst, despite what we like to teach the young'uns. When I come back to Canada, I may deal with dour customs sluggos, but they're no better or worse than those on the U.S. side. It's a culture of fear and paranoia we live in these days, and i guess these guys have to treat everyone like a potential nogoodnik.

Anecdotal evidence from someone who appears to have deliberately pushed some buttons hardly counts as a justifiable condemnation of the country. What they guy went through over the THRILLER DVD certainly puts things into question, but the impression I get from his anecdotal story is that he just played along, albeit in frustration, since he really did nothing wrong.

 

[Jeff Ulmer]

I can't blame customs for seizing the Thriller DVD, I mean, who wants to let more Michael Jackson into the country?

With the amount of shit these border guards have to try to keep out of the country, and the number of folks who they know are lying to them, I can see them going overboard when they suspect something isn't on the up and up. I get questioned to varying degrees even at our small crossing, but I just grin and bear it, since I know I have nothing to hide. I declare what I have, and if I get nailed for the odd GST payment, so be it. It's better than a proctal exam with a billy club.

 

[Gabriela Mendez]

Believe it, postal inspectors open letters, packages, everything. If it's not because a postal clerk told me I was "flagged" by postal inspectors, I would've never known there was a problem with my po box. Fortunately, it was solved talking to the postmaster. If you don't believe me, start sending dvd's via media mail and you'll find out soon enough that packages will be received opened from time to time.

Also, Here I cross the us border from mexico (mexicali-calexico) and normally I don't have trouble from either side. The idiots sometimes are the Mexican customs inspectors who look at a dvd box (i.e. alien quadrilogy) and almost faint (you can only cross 5 dvd's at a time into mexico). Of course I get away with it by bringing along 2 or 3 region 4 dvd's from mexico and then they cannot compute and probably blow their brains. Let me put it to you this way. I was returned to the US for crossing 2 4' palm trees into mexico (need a special permit, didn't know), but I crossed a carver av505 into mexico and declared it and only paid 10 dollars for import. Even funnier was when I declared my HK DPR1001 that I told them it was a gift and quite couldn't figure out what it was and they let me pass. Don't know how it is in Canada, but I was in Detroit on a business trip and people there told me not to cross to Canada unless I reeealllly wanted to. Boy, and I thought crossing the border around here was hectic...

 

[Ricardo C]

That's absolutely bizarre. Are palm trees an endangered species in the US or something like that?

 

[Brian Johnson]

So anyone..... How's the movie?
Looks to be a intriguing story.

Thanks again HTF for turning me on to movies I may have otherwise missed.

 

[Gabriela Mendez]

No, the Mexican Customs inspector was the one that sent me back to the US. It has something to do with the dirt and pests. My passport was taken and was escorted back to the US border crossing line and my passport was returned along with a slip to hand it over to the immigration/customs inspector at the gate. The crazy thing was the lady took the slip and let me through without even checking the vehicle or the palm trees. If I had been stopped with a red light at the Mexican check point, I would've been fined big time; but since I declared it, they only sent me back. Next time I'm buying plastic palms...

 

[DanRevill]

Canada Customs is weird. I had a package worth $60 US easily sent up, and no duty.
Then a similar price range product was ripped open, box damaged and I got charged duty on top of that. It's a good thing I wasn't buying the item for resale (it was an action figure) cos I would have been pissed.