MY CRAZY FLATMATE WAS DETAINED FOR BRINGING SWORDS TO SINGAPORE

"They aren't weapons," he said, "they're historical artifacts."

"Be quiet! We'll be the judge of what is a weapon and what is not," the Singaporean police officer shouted.

My crazy flatmate attempted to bring two blades, a large survival knife and a Filipino version of a kris, into Singapore. He made the foolish decision not to go through the "DECLARE ITEMS" line, and he attempted to just walk out of Changi airport's terminal A.

Immediately the guards rushed him, hauled him to a back room, and placed my flatmate through a three hour gauntlet of questioning. Knowing Singapore's strict laws, my flatmate realized his error and was certain that he would be caned, deported or fined. My flatmate is a tough guy- he's studied arnis and fencing. He is fit enough to take occasional jobs as a fashion model. Still, when he recalls the experience he remembers only the pee-your-pants type of fear.

Despite his pleading, it took hours for the police officers to agree to let him go. My flatmate tried to explain that he was a sword collector and a history teacher at an international school. Sadly, my flatmate is a very young teacher and the only evidence he had of his career choice was a hokey candid shot where the students were holding him upside down. Finally, he tried to tell the officer that the customs officers in the Philippines assured him it was okay to take a survival knife and a historical artifact into Singapore.

Unfortunately, the Filipino customs officials were wrong. My flatmate's contraband was held by the police and getting it back was a two month ordeal. Letters had to be written by my flatmate's boss that vouched that he did indeed use the historical sword as a teaching aid. A special letter of approval has to be carried with the survival knife vouching that it can be in Singapore.

In the end, he did get the blades back. He ended up having to fill out several forms and pay a small twenty dollar import fee. However, there's more to the story, but my flatmate refuses to tell me. Being the slightly more responsible flatmate, I actually bother to check out letter box from time to time. Last week I noticed the he received a letter from the Singapore police division of firearms and explosives.

I asked him what was in the letter. His response- "It's a secret."

(Image via Wikipedia.)