my life as a fugitive for 90 minutes
Had to go into the US for black friday for work with a co-worker. Carrying commercial goods, crossed the same as if we were a big rig. All was fine.
Coming back, had a commercial invoice for the goods we were bringing back (same that we brought in) I stayed in the passenger seat, while the driver got out and spoke to the border agent.
When the driver got in he said: "they said something about us not being in the system, and we need to tell our customs broker for next time" and he threw some papers on the dashboard.
we drove a few hundred feet to the last toll gate, paid our $3.95 and entered Canada w/ no problems.
A while into driving, I looked at the papers on the dash which said "report to customs warehouse" we called our shipping guy who shit a brick and said he was going to make a few phonecalls. We were told to keep coming home until we heard otherwise.
Minutes from home, we get a call: "border agents have been looking for you, you need to go back to the border right away"
So, we turn around, make our way all the way back to the customs warehouse where we are met by a team of 4-5 agents who just upon seeing us say "this must be them" and they radio to their supervisor, telling us to wait in the hall.
we get called back in by the supe, who looks none too happy, and explains he doesn't like wasting his time and has been looking for us. We are then directed to wait in the hall again "while we decide if we're going to charge you, arrest you, or let you go"
it was an anxious wait in the hall, but I also knew that they'd be able to see it was our first time coming into the country under the commercial umbrella and see it for an honest mistake.
Thankfully, that's exactly how they took it and we were let go without much complication.
There was a period where I was left alone, and the driver went off with the supe to move our van to the right area where he was told there was an APB out on us
woops!
Still, gotta say, considering they'd intended for us to pull over, kinda scary that we made it as far as we did, eh? (made it all the way to kitchener)
Coming back, had a commercial invoice for the goods we were bringing back (same that we brought in) I stayed in the passenger seat, while the driver got out and spoke to the border agent.
When the driver got in he said: "they said something about us not being in the system, and we need to tell our customs broker for next time" and he threw some papers on the dashboard.
we drove a few hundred feet to the last toll gate, paid our $3.95 and entered Canada w/ no problems.
A while into driving, I looked at the papers on the dash which said "report to customs warehouse" we called our shipping guy who shit a brick and said he was going to make a few phonecalls. We were told to keep coming home until we heard otherwise.
Minutes from home, we get a call: "border agents have been looking for you, you need to go back to the border right away"
So, we turn around, make our way all the way back to the customs warehouse where we are met by a team of 4-5 agents who just upon seeing us say "this must be them" and they radio to their supervisor, telling us to wait in the hall.
we get called back in by the supe, who looks none too happy, and explains he doesn't like wasting his time and has been looking for us. We are then directed to wait in the hall again "while we decide if we're going to charge you, arrest you, or let you go"
it was an anxious wait in the hall, but I also knew that they'd be able to see it was our first time coming into the country under the commercial umbrella and see it for an honest mistake.
Thankfully, that's exactly how they took it and we were let go without much complication.
There was a period where I was left alone, and the driver went off with the supe to move our van to the right area where he was told there was an APB out on us
woops!
Still, gotta say, considering they'd intended for us to pull over, kinda scary that we made it as far as we did, eh? (made it all the way to kitchener)
Comments
Why do CPFers have such a hard time crossing the boarder?