A thorough track of customs immigration inspections at Kansai Airport. Customs officials were busy dealing with various troubles caused by foreigners, such as suspicious items brought in and smuggled cigarettes. ■A large number of stuffed animals and boxes found in a box Why? Kansai International Airport is the largest "gateway to the sky" in western Japan. At the immigration inspection area of ​​customs, they keep a close watch 24 hours a day to prevent prohibited or restricted items from being brought in. Shingo Matsuda, customs branch chief at Kansai Airport, said, "We inspect baggage to prevent smuggling of drugs or hiding chemicals used in terrorism from entering the country." At 7:00 a.m., a Vietnamese man came with four large cardboard boxes on his cart. Customs official: "What's in there?" Vietnamese man: "Mostly... pouches and stuff. I don't have anything cheap or expensive." The boxes are too big to contain small bags and the like. Customs official: "I don't know what's in there, so I'll open it to check." The customs officials here are authorized to check the contents of the luggage. Customs Officer: "What's this?" What came out of the box was a large number of pink stuffed animals. Customs Officer: "How many of these are in there?" Vietnamese Man: "About 100." Customs Officer: "100? But these..." The customs officer noticed something. A box came out. Customs Officer: "Is this cigarettes?" Vietnamese Man: "Perfume, perfume." Boxes came out one after another. Customs Officer: "There's quite a few." "What's this?" Vietnamese Man: "These...um...erm (gestures)." Customs Officer: "Ah, shuttlecocks." "Badminton shuttlecocks." In fact, there was a reason for the large amount of luggage. Customs Officer: "When is Vietnamese New Year?" Vietnamese Man: "About six days in February." The man, who lives in Japan, had just returned home with a large number of souvenirs to celebrate the Vietnamese New Year. He said he would give away the stuffed animals and perfume to his acquaintances. By the way, pink is apparently one of the lucky colors in Vietnam. He checked his luggage carefully and determined that there was no problem. The man was able to enter the country safely. ■1210 packs of cigarettes hidden in a box of sweets Next is a man from Vietnam. Customs officer: "Are there any items that you've been entrusted with or that you don't know the contents of?" Vietnamese man: "They're all mine." He checks the suitcase. What comes out is a large amount of Vietnamese sweets. However, the customs officer feels something is wrong. Customs officer: "Can I open this?" He finds traces of an open box on the box of sweets. When he checks inside the box, something yellow comes out. Customs officer: "What is this?" "What is this?" When the customs officer questions him, the man tries to close the lid and hide it. Customs officer: "Let me out." What comes out of the box of sweets is a yellow box. It's actually Vietnamese cigarettes. You must declare cigarettes when entering Japan. This is because if you bring in more than 200 cigarettes, you are taxed. Vietnamese man: "Why?" Customs officer: "Why not? You knew about it, didn't you? Can I tell you in another room?" In another room, we hear more from the man. An astonishing truth was revealed. 1,210 packs of cigarettes, a total of 24,200 cigarettes, were hidden in the candy boxes. The cigarettes could not be brought into Japan without paying a tax of approximately 360,000 yen. The man said, "I can't pay that much," and gave up ownership of the cigarettes. ■Another man also "smuggles cigarettes" Officer: "It's getting very high" At the same time, at another inspection table, I witnessed a scene that I couldn't believe my eyes. Customs officer: "What's in the cardboard box?" Asian man: "Um... clothes and instant noodles." Customs officer: "Can I open it for a bit?" Asian man: "Um, instant, instant. Phew." The Asian man seemed uneasy. I opened the cardboard box. Sure enough, I found instant noodles. However, underneath them I found a yellow box that looked familiar. Customs officer: "What's this? What do you think this is?" Asian man: "Cigarettes..." Customs officer: "Did you declare it? You didn't." The man had 492 boxes of cigarettes in his possession, for a total of 9,840 cigarettes. Special Inspector Nakatani Shuichi, Kansai Airport Customs Branch, says, "There have been a lot of cases of cigarettes being smuggled in by hiding them amongst souvenirs." "For a success fee of 10,000 yen..." What's in the suitcase? At 8am, the n