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Posted: Wed 3rd Jun 2009 09:18 am
by Boner
TwoCanucks wrote:
Clayman wrote:the swabs also are to detect explosive residues. i got stopped in july once because i had been setting off fireworks before packing. then they swabbed my bag (the swab most every bag checked at ohare) and it detected various explosive compounds. i had to explain that i wasnt trying to blow up a plane, just various objects found around my parents house and a portapotty.
100 percent correct, the swab test is for explosive residues and is purely a security measure and not for drugs. the dogs are supposed to be better at drugs over swab tests.
They swab for drugs as well.

Posted: Wed 3rd Jun 2009 11:18 am
by CHELSEA_SMOKERS_SOCIETY
yep ive been swabbed a few times at airports

and its to test if youve been incontact with explosives

the bag i bring to and from dam (which has been swabbed) is covered in tiny green bits, and bits of tobacco, and i usually have a J on the way to the airport, and ive never been tugged.

Posted: Wed 3rd Jun 2009 01:00 pm
by echc1
customs may have the right but airport security can stick it up their arse....but customs cannot prosecute on just what you HAD...you have to be in possession or they have intel that have you supplies....hair tests can be refused but swab tests are acceptable if only a little rude

Posted: Wed 3rd Jun 2009 05:33 pm
by pipe-and-slippers
They swab on the pretext of looking for explosives. The new anti-terrorist laws make it perfectly OK for them to do so in the absence of any reasonable cause for suspicion - I've seen an old woman in a wheelchair stopped at Stansted. However, the swabs also detect drugs (surprise, surprise).

If ever detected this way NEVER admit to personal use as this gives them the evidence they need to do any-fucking-thing they want - search you, xray you, detain you, search your house... anything.

The test are sensitive enough to pick up minor traces, so blame the hotel maid, a friend you borrowed the bag from, check-in staff... anyone but you.

Lots of perfectly innocent citizens will test positive for traces of cannabis when returning fom Holland because it's everywhere. Just insist to customs you're one of them.

ALWAYS DENY EVERYTHING.

Posted: Wed 3rd Jun 2009 07:31 pm
by doobydave

Posted: Wed 3rd Jun 2009 10:42 pm
by cattales1960
Clayman wrote:the swabs also are to detect explosive residues. i got stopped in july once because i had been setting off fireworks before packing. then they swabbed my bag (the swab most every bag checked at ohare) and it detected various explosive compounds. i had to explain that i wasnt trying to blow up a plane, just various objects found around my parents house and a portapotty.
you hit it on the nose. Im glad I read this post before posting. They werent looking for drugs, they were looking for expolsives. The swab test looks for residual for bomb making, what ever that stuff is. I know because it happened to me on one of my fights back to the US from amsterdam and I told them I was in amsterdam and was going to tell them I did smoke pot over there because it is allowed, but the guy told me that it is the test for residual for bombs. Of course I said, Do I look like a bomb maker. he just gave me a dirty look and swabbed harder.

Posted: Wed 3rd Jun 2009 10:44 pm
by echc1
phew...i know that swab tests are being used by employers in uk as well.....and as its for explosives we should be ok....only suicide bongers here

Posted: Wed 3rd Jun 2009 10:55 pm
by Ash333
I've had my bag swabbed at Stansted, its standard procedure if they search it.(hand luggage). Once they slowly and meticulously check your bag, they nick any liquids and let you go on, even if you now have to sprint to your gate to catch the flight... Don't cha just love BAA staff combhined with Ryanair being happy to leave without you.

Never had any probs and my bag contains plenty weed residue.

The only time I've experienced dogs was at Dover, leaving the UK on a Eurolines coach to Amsterdam. It was an evening coach, and I'd smoked LOADS in those clothes. I also had 2 joints left on the coach, that the dogs went on.

The British border/police guys made us line up and the dogs walked past all of us, and They didnt look at me twice, although I was bricking it. There was a Canadian student on the bus with me, and when we got off for the ferry I asked him why the dogs stopped him (this is while we're smoking one of the joints on the backdeck on the backdeck of the ferry, happy happy days Smile ) he says he's a chemistry PHD student, spends a lot of time in labs with chems, and the dogs think it could be bombs etc. He said its not your clothes, but your body the dogs smell... didnt really get it, but I was stooooned!!!

Posted: Thu 4th Jun 2009 12:50 am
by TwoCanucks
pipe-and-slippers wrote: If ever detected this way NEVER admit to personal use as this gives them the evidence they need to do any-fucking-thing they want - search you, xray you, detain you, search your house... anything.

The test are sensitive enough to pick up minor traces, so blame the hotel maid, a friend you borrowed the bag from, check-in staff... anyone but you.
Admit to nothing, period, don't blame a maid or anyone.

IT IS NOT AGAINST THE LAW TO SMELL LIKE MARIJUANA.

Don't lie or make excuses, this can and will be used against you.

Say nothing. If there's no drugs, you have nothing to worry about.

Swab tests are used to detect even one molacule of an illicit compound, but they cannot penetrate past the surface of a test subject.

Posted: Thu 4th Jun 2009 06:58 pm
by ynwa
Yeah i had this done in Belfast twice. Once going to the Dam and once on the way home from London. It is for explosives. One the xRay couldnt see through some bottle of aftershave i had and they ended up swabbing my whole case.

Posted: Fri 5th Jun 2009 07:36 pm
by Hammy
I imagine they'd be swabbing for both explosives and drugs, but I was under the impression that there wasn't an immediate indicator test for cannabis as there is for other drugs such as cocaine and heroin, though please do correct me if I'm wrong.

Obviously they could still send the swabs off to a lab, but if they haven't found any drugs or explosives in your bag they wouldn't bother... they wouldn't secure any sort of conviction solely on trace amounts of cannabis (i.e. the amount we would be talking about on a swab, that wasn't otherwise visible to the naked eye, because as someone said before, whatever they swabbed could've touched someone else's stash).

Posted: Sat 6th Jun 2009 02:52 pm
by freeyourmind
Ash333 wrote:He said its not your clothes, but your body the dogs smell... didnt really get it, but I was stooooned!!!
true. i know someone who had trained drug-dogs. he was not a police officer tho, just a trainer. they smell your sweat, wich contains traces of the substances you have taken/smoked/injected. the dogs are even able to smell it in your bed, if you have sweat in it.

and i know from personal experience that there are swab tests for drugs. but don“t know if they work for THC too, as the test wich was taken on my stuff was negativ 8)

peace

Posted: Thu 11th Jun 2009 11:58 pm
by Ingwey Gooblebogger
Admit to nothing, period, don't blame a maid or anyone.

IT IS NOT AGAINST THE LAW TO SMELL LIKE MARIJUANA.

Don't lie or make excuses, this can and will be used against you.

Say nothing. If there's no drugs, you have nothing to worry about.

Swab tests are used to detect even one molacule of an illicit compound, but they cannot penetrate past the surface of a test subject
Quite right!

As long as you have no actual contraband (i.e. drugs) on you or in your baggage, then don't worry about it.

If they hassle you, then shut up and wait for a solicitor.

No substances = no charges.

Also, your solicitor could argue that it is a "false-positive". The swab type of detectors are notoriously inaccurate.