At Eze airport a Custom employee tried to ask me to pay him a bribe

[medialuna]

I arrived to Eze airport close to midnight last night. One young guy asked me to open my luggage after X ray machine. I only brought some dry noodles, coffee and some nuts so I knew there's nothing that are not allowed to bring in to Argentina. However, The guy who opened my luggages just kept whispering and speaking at low tone, "you are not allowed to bring in these items, give me some money and I will let you go. What?! I felt shocked. I said to him in Spanish: i don't have any pesos. And he siad, give me some US dollars... The situation got really strange and he kpet search my personal belongings and found my wallet which i have some US dollars bills. He kept digging out my wallet and at some point he pointed me to look at other way (trying to divert my attention, so he can steal my US dollars). I didnt look away and I got really angry. I told him "you can take and dump all the food items I don't have any problem with that". Then he just gave up. He told me to go to other line for another inspection. Over there the guy who inspected my luggages said there's no problems with the items you can leave. Such a shocking experience for me! I sincerely hope Argentina can be a better country but I feel sad and shocked for what happened last night. I feel like I'm in a third world country. I am going to report this incident to the authorities here.

 

[El_fuego]

lol "i don't have any pesos" ah oh well nevermind then. lmao what a move

 

[nikad]

I arrived to Eze airport close to midnight last night. One young guy asked me to open my luggage after X ray machine. I only brought some dry noodles, coffee and some nuts so I knew there's nothing that are not allowed to bring in to Argentina. However, The guy who opened my luggages just kept whispering and speaking at low tone, "you are not allowed to bring in these items, give me some money and I will let you go. What?! I felt shocked. I said to him in Spanish: i don't have any pesos. And he siad, give me some US dollars... The situation got really strange and he kpet search my personal belongings and found my wallet which i have some US dollars bills. He kept digging out my wallet and at some point he pointed me to look at other way (trying to divert my attention, so he can steal my US dollars). I didnt look away and I got really angry. I told him "you can take and dump all the food items I don't have any problem with that". Then he just gave up. He told me to go to other line for another inspection. Over there the guy who inspected my luggages said there's no problems with the items you can leave. Such a shocking experience for me! I sincerely hope Argentina can be a better country but I feel sad and shocked for what happened last night. I feel like I'm in a third world country. I am going to report this incident to the authorities here.

Sorry to hear about this. I assumed they had ditched these practices a few years ago as there have been multiple incidents involving customs. I would definitely report it ( would have been on the spot, but I totally understand the situation ).

 

[Ries]

I am sure this happened. But its pretty rare, and, obviously, it didnt work.
There are many countries in the world where this happens, only the guy is wearing a gun, and takes you into a room where no one can see you.
Argentina is just not a high risk of this.
We had an incident in Uruguay once, which was impossible to say no to- and the big boss was aware of it, and didnt care. This stuff happens. US customs workers periodically get busted for taking things out of bags, as do airport workers the world around. But in most places, including Argentina, its a rare and small issue.

 

[antipodean]

I arrived to Eze airport close to midnight last night. One young guy asked me to open my luggage after X ray machine. I only brought some dry noodles, coffee and some nuts so I knew there's nothing that are not allowed to bring in to Argentina. However, The guy who opened my luggages just kept whispering and speaking at low tone, "you are not allowed to bring in these items, give me some money and I will let you go. What?! I felt shocked. I said to him in Spanish: i don't have any pesos. And he siad, give me some US dollars... The situation got really strange and he kpet search my personal belongings and found my wallet which i have some US dollars bills. He kept digging out my wallet and at some point he pointed me to look at other way (trying to divert my attention, so he can steal my US dollars). I didnt look away and I got really angry. I told him "you can take and dump all the food items I don't have any problem with that". Then he just gave up. He told me to go to other line for another inspection. Over there the guy who inspected my luggages said there's no problems with the items you can leave. Such a shocking experience for me! I sincerely hope Argentina can be a better country but I feel sad and shocked for what happened last night. I feel like I'm in a third world country. I am going to report this incident to the authorities here.

You need to make a denuncia to the PSA. Everything will be on camera.

*777 - Denuncias y Emergencias Aeroportuarias

La PSA implementó un número único para todo el país, con el fin de canalizar denuncias y emergencias en el ámbito aeroportuario. Se puede llamar desde cualquier celular abonado a Claro, Movistar y Personal. El *777 es una nueva forma de estar conectados las 24 horas del día, los 365 días del...

www.argentina.gob.ar

 

[medialuna]

You need to make a denuncia to the PSA. Everything will be on camera.

https://www.arge.gob.ar/noticias/777-denuncias-y-emergencias-aeroportuarias

You need to make a denuncia to the PSA. Everything will be on camera.

*777 - Denuncias y Emergencias Aeroportuarias

La PSA implementó un número único para todo el país, con el fin de canalizar denuncias y emergencias en el ámbito aeroportuario. Se puede llamar desde cualquier celular abonado a Claro, Movistar y Personal. El *777 es una nueva forma de estar conectados las 24 horas del día, los 365 días del...

www.argentina.gob.ar

Thank you for the link. I will definitely report it.

 

[Silvie]

I must have passed through EZE a hundred times and I've never seen something like that. You should try to report that. With time and date and the cameras, they should know who was searching your wallet.

 

[medialuna]

I have passed through EZE airport since 2010 perhaps 3 or 4 times each year. I have never encountered anything like this. That’s why I was so shocked. The guy first tried to trick me to pay him a bribe. Then later attempting to steal money from my wallet. Unbelievable! My husband who is an Argentinian will help me to report this to the authorities.

 

[TWB103]

Coercing for bribes still happens a lot at the quieter dusty land border controls. As life gets harder for Argentines maybe this happening, even at EZE, should not be so surprising.

 

[rob0001]

Never happened to me here...but multiple times had a pressure applied at a Thailand land border crossing (even taken to a private room to threaten me...), Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam as well.