- I Paid A Bribe
- 5 years ago
- 4214 views
My passport was used as ransom
My wife and I were traveling from Singapore at around 11 pm when officer who was scanning the baggage told my wife to pull her hand bag for inspection. We had brought gold jewelry with us and the officer told us that we had to pay duty. I told him to weigh it and keep it and give me a receipt so that I could retrieve on my way back to States in a month’s time. He insisted that it was illegal to carry that much jewelry and we had to pay duty. When I told him that I was not ready to pay duty as I had the jewelry for my wife’s use and not for sell, he decided to take my passport and told me to get my checked in baggage. When I returned another officer was present and told me that I should settle otherwise it would take a while before I left. At that time I asked him the amount and the officer whom I had been dealing with initially asked for $150 and ultimately settled with$100 to get my passport so I could leave.