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Langley man caught smuggling Blu-rays down his pants

U.S. border officers sent a 47-year-old Langley man back to Aldergrove after being caught with 24 Blu-ray movies under his clothing.
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A 47-year-old Langley man was caught at the Aldergrove border trying to smuggle 24 Blu-ray movies under his clothing last week.

A 47-year-old Langley man got in some hot water with U.S. Customs and Border Protection after getting caught trying to smuggle 24 Blu-Ray movies under his clothes last week at the Aldergrove crossing.

The local man admitted that he has been selling the DVDs for sometime through an online business, sneaking the movies across the border without paying duties or taxes, said US. officials.

The local man was rejected entry into the U.S. when he was caught at the Lynden/Aldergrove border crossing.

The 47-year-old resident had been making multiple trips every week into the States, he said. He always told officers he was coming down to get gas and had no commercial merchandise. Officers sent him to secondary for closer inspection after noticing excessive padding and bulges in his clothing.

A pat-down was ordered and revealed he was concealing 24 Blu-Ray movies, all packaged, labeled and invoiced, all ready to send via the U.S. Postal Service to his online buyers. He had four movies under each sleeve, five more in the back of his shirt, 10 more in various pockets of his jacket and the rest were concealed in his undergarments.

“By his own admission, he’s been doing it for quite some time because he wanted to avoid paying the duties and fees associated with commercial activity. This time the CBP Officers’ training and experience paid off, and the DVD smuggler got caught," said Port Director Phillip Stanford.

With multiple crossings through Lynden in November, it was not known whether he had commercial goods each time. He told officers he only concealed movies in his clothing when he had big orders to fill. He also admitted he always used the same story about coming down for gas.

He was escorted back to Canada by CBP officers without incident.

 



Monique Tamminga

About the Author: Monique Tamminga

Monique brings 20 years of award-winning journalism experience to the role of editor at the Penticton Western News. Of those years, 17 were spent working as a senior reporter and acting editor with the Langley Advance Times.
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