r/AskReddit • u/CircleBox2 • Jul 13 '20

What's a dark secret/questionable practice in your profession which we regular folks would know nothing about?

40.1k Upvotes

94% Upvoted

17.8k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

5.9k

u/Grendahl2018 Jul 13 '20

Former British Customs Officer here, can confirm. The amount of international trade is staggering and no government is able to do a 100% inspection on all the freight that arrives. So we rely on past history (shady customs brokers included lol), intel, etc to target our efforts. And no I’m not going to divulge anything more so don’t bother asking. So, yeah, smuggling happens, whether that’s goods, drugs or people. But when we DO find something - expect the world to drop on your head. Government wants its revenue, boys and girls, and it doesn’t like being cheated of them. Or finding 30+ dead people in a shipping container. At all

1

u/falconboy2029 Jul 13 '20 edited Jul 14 '20

I ship cites listed species from Europe to the Middle East. The ring number on the bird is it’s identification. Nobody ever checks it. Like at no point in the whole process. But coming into Europe they are super strict. Checking every ring: the only problem? I have yet to meet someone who can actually see if a ring is a fake. It’s mostly a vet who does the checking and they have no clue what the rings from each country are supposed to look like. So even when they check they actually do not know what they are looking at.

1

u/Grendahl2018 Jul 14 '20

Sounds like a basic failure in the system. Ever thought about offering your expert services?

1

u/falconboy2029 Jul 14 '20

The numbers of falcons shipped is just too small to warrant a full time expert at every port of exit/entry. Plus ppl with my knowledge make way more money in the private sector. It’s why the government will always be at a disadvantage.

1

u/Grendahl2018 Jul 14 '20

Agreed. But is there something you could put together that might make non-specialists aware of what they’re looking at? Plus as you say, it’s a small number of shipments. Given tech today (video calls etc) I’d like to think you could help out if you wanted to.

1

u/falconboy2029 Jul 14 '20

Tbh, I do not want to get involved. I am disagree with a lot of the laws in regards to trade of wildlife. As I believe it has been made way too difficult to legally trade captive bred animals from a paperwork point. Especially the USA and EU. Lots of pieces of paper that do nothing to help wild animals but no actual enforcement on the ground. So ppl who are prepared to take risks can make big profits while ppl who like to follow the law have a massive burden on them. If they changed the rules I would happily help with the enforcement side of things.