Originally Posted by ILLusion
I had a similar incident happen to me at HK airport when I got my first AEG in 2002.
It started in Tokyo Japan, where I made a day trip to Akihabara ("Toy City") to hunt for some parts for RC cars. I walked in to a shop that I saw had Tamiya car parts from the store front, so I picked out the stuff I was looking for, and as I was about to pay, I hear one of my buddy's quietly say "ho... ly... shit......" I look at him to see what's wrong, and I see him staring at the back wall behind me that I managed to completely miss. I turn around, and see a HUGE wall of Tokyo Marui AEG's lining the entire wall. First time seeing that many guns in one place, my eyes damn near popped out of my head.
I pointed to the P90-TR (which was just released around that time), and I told the shop keeper "I want that. Now."
As the transaction ended, they wrapped up the box nightly in discreet wrapping paper, packaging string, and a handle so that I could transport the large-ish box back to the ryokan I was staying at.
When we left Tokyo to go back to Hong Kong, I could not fit the box in to my luggage, so instead, I opted to carefully pack the complete AEG in to my suitcase and I would then hand carry the empty box on the plane. Being a total noob at the time, I figured this would be the safest route, and seeing as how Hong Kong has a pile of airsoft all over the place, I figured it wouldn't be an issue to import it in to Hong Kong.
When I got to Tokyo's airport and was told to check my luggage in with security, they had three amazingly cute Japanese girls manning the desk. Not knowing a lick of Japanese, I told them "I have an air gun in my suitcase" in plain English. They looked at me... had no idea what I said, and I just had a stupid grin on my face because these three cute girls wouldn't stop giggling. I tried telling them a couple more times that I had an air gun in my suitcase, and even made motions with my hands to simulate a gun, and they just kept giggling. So finally, I placed the suitcase on the conveyor, and they stopped it in the xray and asked me to point out what I was talking about. At first, they pointed to my electric razor. Surprisingly, you could barely make out anything identifiable that would make out a P90 AEG in the xray. So I pointed out the barely visible outline of the body, and they just kept giggling...
So they motion to open the luggage and show it to them. These three cute Japanese girls then proceed to pick up the gun, and kept saying "kawaii...!" and started pretending to shoot each other with the thing and making "pow pow" sounds. I was like "wtf...... I'll give you a big gun to play with......."
Anyways, they let me go eventually. Kawaii...
When I landed at HK airport, we collected our luggage and was on our way out through their security clearance area. I noticed a supervisor eyeing me carrying the empty AEG box, and at least two other officers watching me. As I passed through the gate, an officer stopped me, and asked me what was in the box and to open it. As I unpackaged it, I told them it was an empty box for an air gun, and that the gun was in my luggage. They started going through the manuals, opened up my suitcase and began handling the P90. The officer looks at me, not having held a P90 before, and said "wow, this is pretty cool." I told them I figured it would be okay to bring it in, since they sell airsoft all over Kwong Wah anyways. They said their concern was that it may be a real gun.
During this session, I saw two more security officers show up, each with MP5's and Glocks, decked out in tactical gear. My friends were standing off to the side, and I could see the look on their faces... "Brian's fucked."
They then took all my luggage (and the gun), and told me to follow them. At this point, I had two "regular" officers at my sides, the supervisor in front of me, and these two tactical officers flanking me. I wasn't going anywhere.
They took me in to a room with a bunch of shelves, and all on the shelves...... were boxes of latex gloves. *gulp.* The two tactical officers stationed themselves outside the door to the room, and then the supervisor began running me through the standard battery of questions. Where are you from, what are you doing in Hong Kong, what's your occupation. Why are you bringing this in to Hong Kong, how much did you pay for it, what are you going to do with it. etc. I answered all their questions, and they just kept flipping through the manual for the gun.
Finally, they let me go.
The scariest part was the wall of rubber gloves.
|
January 29th, 2011, 14:11
