Mohammed Al-Hassani Okaz newspaper Airports can be funny places. People go there to catch connections but often end up making personal connections when they run into someone from their home country. For Saudis, such a connection comes at a cost when a fellow countryman has excess luggage. The pleas begin and one ends up being an unwilling carrier for someone else's baggage. Such simple gestures can, however, have disastrous consequences. Passengers who so gladly let a complete stranger carry their baggage often have other, more sinister intentions. Once you take the step to defraud an airline by claiming ownership of a bag, tag numbers are printed along with the owner's name. If the luggage contains prohibited substance, one may be convicted of drug trafficking. In other words, you are liable for anything that happens while the real owner may slip away unnoticed. This is a warning that the generous help we sometimes innocently extend to people with excess baggage may get us into serious trouble one day.
