Recent experience with "Passport Control" in Germany
 

Last week my wife and I were taking the train from Amsterdam to Frankfurt, we were reading in first class when a man tapped me on my shoulder, i looked back to see scruffy looking guys, he said "passport control, can I see your passports?", I handed them over, "how long were you in Amsterdam?" I replied five days. "Which are your bags?" I pointed to my wife's fully loaded 27incher and my spiffy zero haliburtan up in the overhead, "I want to see that one", pointing at my bag. I got up a grabbed it and opened it up right in the middle of the aisle and he went through it semi carefully. All eyes are on us from the other passengers, then he says, Ok and hands the passports to my wife as I put my stuff back together and heads down the car, stopping for no one else. I'm assuming they were looking for drugs as I've seen this happen to others on the Amsterdam-Paris trip, but much more casually done, I felt like I was in an "Midnight Express Sequel". My question is, anyone have first hand knowledge of what would have happened had they found a few joints in my bag? Would I be speaking German by now?

You don't expect anybody with "first hand knowldege" to post on this board, do you?

It seems to me this was a random check...no different than random checks that are done on airline flights from Europe to the USA which are, of course, violations of our civil liberties but in this time of whatever, there are those who have no problem with these invasive checks.

But after all, the Germans are nowhere near as paranoid as the Americans; after all nobody took your finger print or took a picture of you.

Basically, you don't need to show your Passport. Crossing the border region you can be asked to open your bag. In the north, they are not as brutal about this as here in Bavaria. I wouldn't recommend getting cought! Your choices are Stadelheim/Munich or Straubing ;-)

Sorry, wrong statement. Of course, you do need to be able to present your passport on the train crossing the border.

>Would I be speaking German by now?

It would help a lot during the court hearing :-)
But most probably, if you were caught with more than 1-2 joints, the worst would be an escort to the next plane to the USA, and even that is not probable. Possession or consumption of small amounts of cannabis is not a criminal offense in Germany; possession of large amounts, or (especially) selling of cannabis, is one.
On the other hand a few years ago Bavarian government pushed for the withdrawal of driving license as a punishment for consumption. No rental cars for you anymore sir. :-)))

I have seen this done on the rail route from Switzerland to italy by the Italians. They were in uniform and used a drug-sniffing dog.

I wonder what would have happened had you asked those "scruffy looking guys" for some sort of official identification since anyone can say ther words "passport control."

They tell us agents develop some sort of "sense" about how certain people look and act and sometimes select people in this way.

Could that have happened to you as you were "reading in first class?"

>I wonder what would have happened had you asked those "scruffy looking guys" for some sort of official identification since anyone can say ther words "passport control."

1) If they are indeed official, they would show it to you. And take double the time to search for drugs afterwards.
But actually, you are definitely entitled to learning their name, service number and the name of the supervisor. It's what I usually ask for if the German custom guys on the Swiss/German border get unpleasant.

>They tell us agents develop some sort of "sense" about how certain people look and act and sometimes select people in this way.

Maybe. Or of you look like a potential illegal immigrant (since they usually come from certain countries they often have certain "looks")

>Could that have happened to you as you were "reading in first class?"

I don't know - but I usually travel 2nd class, and if I have my laptop up and running by the time the border guys arrive at my seat, they don't bother with me - not even ask for an ID.
People looking like typical backpackers are always scrutinized.

<b>Possession or consumption of small amounts of cannabis is not a criminal offense in Germany...</b>

My gosh! Don't these benighted Europeans know that reefer is a &quot;gateway drug&quot; that leads directly to heroin, crack, and meth? They must have enormous social dislocation caused by widespread drug addiction.

Don't they?

Speak for yourself, Robes. Lots of people smoke grass and never progress through that supposed &quot;gateway.&quot;

&gt;They must have enormous social dislocation caused by widespread drug addiction.

Sure.
I have to step over thousands of addicts every time I walk home from the office.

Isn't it horrible?

&gt;Possession or consumption of small amounts of cannabis is not a criminal offense in Germany...

Not true, even the smallest amount is considered a crime. Small amounts sometimes go unpunished, but not in Bavaria.

Dukey, go look up &quot;irony&quot; and get back to us.

&gt;Not true, even the smallest amount is considered a crime.

AFAIK for small amounts only selling or transfer to another person.
But I will look up.

Look it up, the lefties always wanted it, but there's still the majority against it

Three years ago a colleague of mine was &quot;busted&quot; on the train from Amsterdam to Berlin with the possession of a large chunk of hashish. He was given a ticket with instructions to appear at such-and-such a place 2 weeks hence. They (2 agents) confiscated the hash.

I was involved in this adventure in a minor role when he received some official looking papers from Germany and brought them to me for translation. [At which time I demanded the backstory!] Basically his failure to appear resulted in a 1-year probation in which he was to stay out of trouble. To be extra safe, he stayed out of Germany!