Michelle, Any more info on these guys? The fact is that you cannot get PERUVIAN Pisco in Mexico but you can get the CHILEAN Pisco. It would not surprise me if the RCMP made a mistake on this. They could have been bottles of the product from Chile, or they could have a friend in Mexico who brought some of the real deal in from Peru. You don't hear much about liquid cocaine in Cancun as the powder seems to sell just fine.
TJ, no need to worry about anything like that happening to you.... Yep, no reason whatsoever..... at all....for any reason..... ever.... no matter what..... for you to bother taking a closer look at the stuff your bring down for us folks... we promise. :lol:
T.J. - I understood this to mean that because you can't get Peruvian Pisco in Mexico, that when the RCMP saw they were coming from Mexico with a product you can't even get there, that alone might have made the situation suspicious. Never mind that they had 8 bottles of the stuff. This is waaaaay over the limit of alcohol of any kind to try to bring back to Canada. Now this raises another question. If they knew what was really in the bottles why would they try to bring so many back all at once? I know there really are some people that would be dumb enough to try bringing back more than their limit of regular stuff because I have witnessed this first hand at Canada customs on a previous trip a few years ago. These guys were either really greedy or really ...really dumb... or both...take your choice.
Hey Cat, 1. I am not sure how it works in Canada but you can bring 2 liters of spirits per person into the US. Duty Free. 2. Therefore you can bring more than 2 liters into the country by simply declaring the excess and paying duties thereon. I am sure it is not much different in Canada. 3. "8 bottles" could represent various total quantities, depending on the size of the bottles. So two guys could each bring in 4 - 500 ml bottles and still fall into the duty free category. 4. I could not tell from the article if they had been or not been to Peru on their trip. A year or so ago I flew from Orlando to Ft. Lauderdale to Cancun to Mexico City to Lima (and then traveled within Peru for 2 weeks) and then returned through the same cities in reverse. I brought Peruvian Pisco into both Mexico and the US without problem. These guys may or may not have taken a trip to Peru during their vacation. 5. The national drink is Peru is a "Pisco Sour" and it is popular everywhere. This is the same country that enjoys the dining delicacy of Cuy, more commonly known as Guinea Pig. I did not import any Cuy but I did experience it. Point being, Pisco is quite popular. Maybe these guys had a source of Peruvian Pisco, or maybe they found the Chilean version and the RCMP simply saw the word Pisco and that was the red flag. 6. I don't know what liquid cocaine looks like, but if I were a drug smuggler, which I am not, and was smuggling from Mexico to anywhere, using liquor bottles, I am pretty sure I would be smart enough to use tequila or rum bottles. 7. It is just hard for me to believe that if these guys were smuggling 4 or 8 liters of liquid cocaine, they would have at least as much common sense as a non-smuggler would. Why would they so obviously call attention to themselves if they were doing bad things? Ciao,
T.J. I just checked on what we are allowed to bring into Canada and it is less than our U.S. neighbors. Residents returning to Canada: After 24 hr absence...C$50 --No Tobacco and Liquor After 48 hr absence...C$200 Tobacco...200 Cigarettes and 50 Cigars Liquor....40 oz. (1.14 Litres) After 7 days absence...C$750 Tobacco...200 Cigarettes and 50 Cigars and 200g of Tobacco Liquor....1.14 litres of liquor or 1.5 litres of wine I totally agree with you that using a more common liquor such as rum or tequila probably would have been more convincing if a person were so inclined to smuggle. Also you brought up a good point about the size of the bottles. I just assumed they would have been a 500ml or 1.2L bottles, only because the article did mention the amount of bottles. If they had been the tiny samplers...well then ...what can I say. I guess I'll have to wait and see if I hear anything more on the news here about it and let you know.
I have a friend who always smuggles Cuban cigars from Mexico to the US. She bring a Tampax box and puts them inside, in the paper. No one ever wants to look inside your Tampax box. I thought she was very clever for that. Others I know have been known to smuggle Cuban rum into the US by dumping out a bottle of Bacardi and putting the contents of a Havana Club bottle in there.
Cat, I made my original post to see if the story had changed as it was just too unbelievable when I read it. I just checked my stash as I accidentally brought back more Pisco than I should have. I have a plain bottle that is 700 ml and a fancier, decorative one that is only 500 ml. I use the plane one to refill the fancy one.
Rivergirl, I used to bring in Cuban cigars that I got from the "official" Cuban store that used to be in Plaza Flamingo. Then they moved to La Isla and now they are back on the Blvd. BUT, when they were at La Isla they fired this gal that I had known for years and when I would go back for Cohibas, they were all counterfeit. So I stopped smoking the damn things. And I cannot believe anyone would bring Cuban rum to the U.S. since we have a trade embargo, unless by accident. I like all 4 types of the Havana Club that I have tried. Maybe I will go pour me one right now. Uh oh. I am in FL till Friday.
Interesting.....an here I sat thinkin that covering them up with hard, crusty underwear was a novel idea!LOL! Michelle
