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He was just passing through the airport in Trinidad, on the way home to Kelowna, when a security staffer noticed his keys. Brian Doubt runs an army surplus store in Kelowna so using spent bullet casings as key fobs makes sense for him. But what happened next was the stuff of nightmares.
Doubt had 3 of the key chains with him and airport security did not approve.
"So they put the handcuffs on me and I'm perp-walked through the airport," said Doubt. But that humiliation was just the beginning. Despite the fact that the spent casings are harmless, in Trinidad they are considered ammunition. Mere possession is a crime without a permit and attempting taking them on a plane is considered worse. So he was taken to the police station where he would spend one night before being taken before a magistrate the following day with no opportunity to speak with a lawyer. He faced two charges, one of them, an indictable offence that he learned had to be dealt with by the supreme court. "She says 'Well the police think you are a flight risk and I agree, so one week remand'."
The police had told him that a plea and a fine would take care of it, but now Doubt was on his way to a maximum security prison where he would spend a week, and when he finally spoke to a lawyer it was of little comfort. "He says 'Holy crap!' recalled Doubt. "'You could be waiting 2 or 3 months to get a court date for this one.' And I'm like 'Look, you've got to get me out of here!'"
At the prison, conditions were every bit as bad as you might expect. "There was four of us in a three-person cell," said Doubt. "So the first few nights I slept on the floor on a foam mattress. A well used foam mattress."
There was only an hour a day to walk around outside, and none on weekends, and the meals were nothing to look forward to. "The food is really like dog food," he said.
A week later, it was all settled with a fine of close to $1,000. It turns out the police made a mistake by recording it as an indictable offence. But the fine, along with the lawyer's fees, his plane ticket, and lost work back at home created a whole new set of problems. "So it's put me into a huge financial strain. Like huge," said Doubt.
So he's created a Go Fund Me page to try to dig himself out of his money problems. He will not likely do any more air travel with those key chains, and he hopes he never sets foot in Trinidad again.
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