The Brisbane Drug Story

                                                      The Brisbane Drug Story

                                                                     1986

                                            Written 1/2011, Re-written 06/26/2016

                                         It really happened, and we could be in jail

                                                             Howard Yasgar

In 1986, our Company, was doing business with several parts manufacturers in Taiwan.

Because the companies in Taiwan were all so bad, every year, I would have to go to there to straighten out the problems.

So in 1986, we decided that we could spend a week in Taiwan taking care of business and then take another week and travel to some other nearby countries as a vacation.

We had good friends in Brisbane Australia, Neil and Ros Metcalf of “Truck Electrics Company”.

Once Neil and Ros knew that Katherine and I were traveling that year to Taiwan they started pressing us to come and visit them in Brisbane.

Neil said, he would love to show us their company, and then take us into the Australian outback.

That’s when my wife Katherine started working on a travel plan.

We would fly to LA from Miami, and then on to Taiwan, We would stay in Taiwan for four days, giving me time to argue with our suppliers. Then we would fly on Qantas Airlines, to Bangkok Thailand.

We could spend two days in Bangkok which would give us enough time to get a feeling for the country and do a little sightseeing.

From Bangkok Thailand we would then fly to Sidney Australia where we would spend a couple of days, giving us a chance to see the  Opera House.

Then from Sidney, it was on to Brisbane Australia, to see Neil and Ros.

Once we were in Brisbane, Neil had said they wanted to take us to the Australian outback, for a couple of days, then we would fly back to Miami.  

Once I knew exactly what we were doing, I called our mutual friend Barney Kaplan in Detroit.

Barney and his wife Sara Lee were also good friends of Neil and Ros, and they had recently visited them in Australia.

When Barney’s wife Sara Lee heard we were going to Australia she said that she had a small gift for Ros, and would we take it along on our trip.

She said, the gift was sort of a thank you  for how nice Neil and Ros treated them when they were in Australia.

I said yes, and Sara Lee sent me a small package by UPS.

When the package arrived I saw that it was about eight inches long, four or five inches wide, and a half inch thick, it was soft to the touch like a blouse or a scarf would be.    

In Miami we studied our available luggage and I opted to use a large Samsonite suitcase and a leather folding garment bag with zippered pockets.

We were preparing to leave on December 12, to arrive in Taiwan on Dec 14, so Katherine booked rooms at the Sheraton Lai-Lai, as we had stayed there on past trips.

My business in Taipei went well, and when we were done we went to the Airport, checked in our luggage and flew to Bangkok Thailand.

We stayed at the Hotel Regent in Bangkok, and I bought several cartons of Thai cigarettes. They cost almost nothing in Bangkok and I wanted to bring them back to Miami to give away as gifts.

When we packed our luggage, to fly to Sidney Australia, I filled up the zippered pockets in my leather fold up garment bag with all the packages of Thai cigarettes that I had purchased.

When we arrived in Sidney, the fold up garment bag with the cigarettes, failed to appear with our other luggage, so we hung around the luggage carousel  for a while, hoping it would show up.

Finally the Qantas representative told us not to worry, he said, “the bag would be found and delivered to our hotel in Sidney.”

He was spot on, the next afternoon the bag was delivered to our hotel in Sidney just as he said it would.

I took the bag up to our room and did a quick inspection to see if the cigarettes were still there, and they were, and everything looked OK.

After spending a couple of days in Sidney, and touring the Sidney Opera House, it was time to catch our flight to Brisbane to see Neal and Ros Metcalf.

We arrived at the Brisbane Airport, and again, like in Sidney, the soft leather fold up bag with the Thai cigarettes, failed to arrive with our other luggage.

Katherine and I waited at the luggage carousel until everyone had left the area, we thought that it certainly was strange to have the same luggage missing twice.

Finally we carried our suitcases to the Customs inspection station, and told the inspector that we were missing a bag.

Yes, “I know he said, they are bringing it out now.”

At that very moment I saw another Officer carrying my bag from behind the luggage carousel. He had a Beagle dog walking with him, and the dog was sniffing the bag.

“Our drug dog sniffed out your bag the Customs inspector said, what do you have in it”?

Just clothes and some cigarettes from Thailand, I said.

I told him that it was strange that this same bag was missing from our flight from Thailand to Sidney also.

He looked at me suspiciously, and he started to unfold and open up the bag.

The first thing he found was the small soft package given to me by Sara lee Kaplan as a gift for Ros Metcalf.

“What is this package,” the Inspector asked?

“It's a gift for our friend’s wife who lives here in Brisbane. It was given to us by friends in Detroit.”

“What’s in the package,” he asked? “I don't know it’s a gift,” I said.

“You mean to tell me you travel halfway around the world carrying a package you don't know what’s in it.”

By this time I was getting more than a little irritated, and I said, “I bet it's a blouse, you can feel it with your hands, You, don't have to open a package like that, when it's so obvious.”

As we spoke the other Customs Inspector came out of his office shaking a vial with a clear liquid in it.

What is that, I asked?

The Officer was now unzipping the pockets that had the packages of Thai cigarettes. In the bottom of the pocket was some white powder.

I was more than a little concerned as I didn't remember ever putting any talcum powder or anything white in the zippered pockets.

The Officer said, “If this liquid turns red, you have a real problem, as he put some of the white powder in the test tube and he shook it up.”

After a few seconds the color turned bright purple.

I have to admit that at first, it looked red to me, and I became nervous.

“Pack up your stuff, you are free to go,” the Inspector said.

“Do you think someone removed the bag in Thailand, and put some drugs in it, and then removed the bag in Sidney?” I asked the Officer.

He didn't answer me.

We were very happy to leave the airport, and not be going to jail.

Neil and Ros were waiting for us in the airport parking lot.

“What took you so long they asked”.

Boy did we have a story to tell them.