[00:00.00]Lesson 11
[00:01.61]Not guilty
[00:08.36]What was the Customs Officer looking for?
[00:12.72]Customs Officers are quite tolerant these days, 
[00:16.23]but they can still stop you when you are going through the Green Channel and have nothing to declare.
[00:22.50]Even really honest people are often made to feel guilty.
[00:26.97]The hardened professional smuggler, on the other hand, is never troubled by such feelings,
[00:33.17]even if he has five hundred gold watches hidden in his suitcase.
[00:38.47]When I returned from abroad recently, 
[00:41.51]a particularly officious young Customs Officer clearly regarded me as a smuggler.
[00:47.89]'Have you anything to declare?' he asked, looking me in the eye.
[00:53.57]'No,' I answered confidently.
[00:57.11]'Would you mind unlocking this suitcase please? '
[01:01.05]'Not at all,' I answered.
[01:03.47]The Officer went through the case with great care.
[01:07.21]All the things I had packed so carefully were soon in a dreadful mess.
[01:13.07]I felt sure I would never be able to close the case again.
[01:17.77]Suddenly, I saw the Officer's face light up.
[01:21.84]He had spotted a tiny bottle at the bottom of my case and he pounced on it with delight.
[01:28.85]'Perfume, eh?' he asked sarcastically.
[01:34.18]'You should have declared that.
[01:36.16]Perfume is not exempt from import duty.  '
[01:40.88]'But it isn't perfume, I said. 'It's hair gel.  '
[01:46.46]Then I added with a smile,
[01:49.05]'It's a strange mixture I make myself.
[01:52.86]As I expected, he did not believe me.
[01:56.75]'Try it!' I said encouragingly.
[02:00.46]The Officer unscrewed the cap and put the bottle to his nostrils.
[02:04.96]He was greeted by an unpleasant smell which convinced him that I was telling the truth.
[02:11.46]A few minutes later,
[02:13.28] I was able to hurry away with precious chalk marks on my baggage.