June 27, 2012, - 2:40 pm
US Customs Officials Miss, Lose Stowaways on Ship From Muslim Mid-East; Likely Disappeared Into US
I doubt very much this was a dry run or testing the system. Instead, I think it was the actual thing: stowaways in containers on ships from the Muslim Mid-East. And I think that Customs and Border Protection inspectors of the Department of Homeland Security probably missed and have since lost them or they evaded law enforcement long before the ship came to shore. They are probably now halfway across America. It’s not like this hasn’t been a plot point in a million different movies and TV series I’ve seen about Islamic terrorists. And if I saw it on TV, why did they lose these guys? No way they heard “phantom knocks” from ghosts or something. This was probably the real thing. And they probably got into the US and got away with it. Oh, and by the way, I feel sooooo much safer now that the Lesbionic Woman’s Homeland Security has finally decided (far too late) to do a thorough search of the ship. Don’t you? The aliens inside the cargo probably jumped shop and swam ashore or otherwise snuck out to a waiting vessel in the middle of the night. We still don’t check most freight containers on these ships. And Islamic terrorists know this. The odds are in their favor.
Dock workers rushed to unload containers stacked on top of one another inside a cargo ship that arrived in New Jersey from the Middle East on Wednesday after Coast Guard officials heard knocking from one during a routine inspection, suggesting that stowaways might be on board.
More than a dozen ambulances and law enforcement officials met the 850-foot vessel when it docked early Wednesday at Port Newark, one of the nation’s busiest ports. Large mechanical cranes began unloading containers from the ship.
By midday Wednesday, all but one ambulance had quietly left the pier. U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Anthony Bucci said officials so far had checked 40 out of 2,000 containers on the Ville D’Aquarius.
The Coast Guard team had boarded the ship outside New York Harbor early Wednesday as the ship prepared to dock, spokesman Charles Rowe said. The officers were knocking on containers during a sound check, “and they knocked on this one and they heard a knocking back,” spokeswoman Michelle Krupa told the Star-Ledger of Newark.
The team followed protocol and didn’t open the container at sea in order to control the situation, Coast Guard spokesman Charles Rowe said.
Drew Barry, of the Sandy Hook Pilots Association, said he boarded the vessel about 20 miles offshore to help pilot it into port.
“There are at least 30 to 40 containers on top of the hatch cover, and I don’t know how many more below it,” Barry said. “If there are people down there, with no food and water for days, they’re probably pretty desperate by now.”
Or long gone into the American heartland.
He estimated late Wednesday morning that it would take several hours, if not much of the day, to get to the part of the ship, below the hatch cover, where officials heard banging noises.
The container, which a manifest said was carrying machine parts to Norfolk, Va., was loaded in India, Rowe said.
The ship began its voyage May 30 in the United Arab Emirates, then made one stop in Pakistan and two stops in India. Its last port before Newark was in Egypt on June 15.
The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement Wednesday that officials are conducting a “thorough investigation of the vessel.”
Too little, too late. They’re long gone into the American abyss plotting who knows what. And remember that there are plenty of ships like this with stowaways from the Mid-East, whose knocks are never heard and they make it into the US with ease.
Reader Bill:
What a mess. How are we suppposed to police this? Plus, once the morons are caught, I’m sure they’ll just be identified as poor immigrants wanting to come to America for a better life but there’s a LEGAL process for that. What about all of the immigrants who came to the U.S. as LEGAL immigrants (including my grandparents, etc.)? Doesn’t that cheapen the process and put us at risk. I know I’m preaching to the choir. That’s to say nothing of the criminals that are slipping in too. Seems hopeless on so many levels.
EXACTLY. America . . . Desperate But Not Serious.
Tags: Aliens, cargo containers, Charles Rowe, Coast Guard, Customs and Border Protection, Department of Homeland Security, Drew Barry, Egypt, freight containers, Homeland Security, Illegal Aliens, India, knocks, Michelle Krupa, Muslim aliens, Muslim stowaways, Norfolk, Pakistan, Port Newark, Sandy Hook Pilots Association, ship, stowaways, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, United Arab Emirates, Ville D'Aquarius
So immigration is a federal responsibility.
Therefore by definition it will be FUBAR.
While they are coming by ship, they should know that they can come in through AZ, since ICE will not respond to local law enforcement in that state.
They must not have gotten tht e-mail, or boarded the ship before the Supremes ruled.
Panhandle on June 27, 2012 at 3:31 pm