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Esoteric_
Joined: 10 May 2012
Posts: 9
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 Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 4:44 am Post subject: Customs and Immigration |
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Do customs and immigration officials ever check the contents of a computer? I have a lot of political, historical and religious e-books and documentaries on my computer and on an external hard drive that I'd like to bring along. Does it pose a risk at all?
Thanks so much! |
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nomad soul
Joined: 31 Jan 2010
Posts: 11454
Location: The real world
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lcanupp1964
Joined: 12 Dec 2009
Posts: 381
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| Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 5:26 am Post subject: |
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| I have gone though the airport in Jeddah about 10 times and I have never had my computer checked, so all my "historical documentaries" staring Tiffney, Amber and Jasmine never came into question. |
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uzurisoul
Joined: 27 May 2012
Posts: 28
Location: Dammam
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| Posted: Thu Oct 04, 2012 12:19 pm Post subject: Re: Customs and Immigration |
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| Esoteric_ wrote: |
Do customs and immigration officials ever check the contents of a computer? I have a lot of political, historical and religious e-books and documentaries on my computer and on an external hard drive that I'd like to bring along. Does it pose a risk at all?
Thanks so much! |
I wish I would have brought so much more....I came through the Dammam airport and nothing was checked.....My bags were sent through a scanner and that was it..... |
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Heaton
Joined: 02 Jan 2012
Posts: 35
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| Posted: Sun Oct 07, 2012 5:16 am Post subject: . |
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| Looking through your computer would take hours, and the customs and immigration officials are already too busy checking their e-mail and chatting with each other. They will scan your bag, so as long as you don't hide any files inside a bottle of vodka or handgun... |
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jargonscott
Joined: 19 Sep 2011
Posts: 47
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| Posted: Sun Oct 07, 2012 3:41 pm Post subject: Re: . |
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| Heaton wrote: |
| Looking through your computer would take hours, and the customs and immigration officials are already too busy checking their e-mail and chatting with each other. They will scan your bag, so as long as you don't hide any files inside a bottle of vodka or handgun... |
This sums up everything perfectly.
I was overly concerned my first time arriving in the gulf, but "security" is a joke there. Most of the time, no one even bothers to look at the x-ray machine when your bags are being scanned. Out of all the Middle Eastern countries I've traveled through, KSA and Bahrain seemed the least concerned about your baggage. The only time I've ever seen someone feign some hint of concern was twice on the Bahrain/KSA causeway. I've crossed that border dozens of times and the most intense the check/search/questioning ever got was being asked to pop the trunk. The guard poked his head in, then looked under our seats, and then said, "WHISKEY?!". We said "No" and off we went. The whole stop probably lasted a total of 1 minute.
I remember choosing to store potentially offensive items in a password protected sparse file on my external hard drive. Though that's a handy method of secure storage, it was pretty much a waste of time. No one at the border cares about your laptop. Even if they did, no one would spend the time or energy to unearth your your most minimally secure documents. The above comment about chatting/emailing is a very accurate depiction of what you'll experience.
The security checks in whatever country you fly out of will be a million times more thorough than the version you'll experience in KSA.
Bring whatever you want on your external. |
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