PBH / Colombia / Start Forums▼ (active) Travelguide Cheap hostels Pictures

UK MP's coffee mate ordeal in Colombia

From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/england/staffordshire/7599863.stm

MP's gunpoint Coffee Mate ordeal

An MP has described how he was held at gunpoint by guards in Colombia who mistook a jar of coffee whitener he was carrying for cocaine.

Lichfield MP Michael Fabricant had been on a trekking holiday to South America last week when he said he was held by armed soldiers who searched their bags.

He said one pulled out the unmarked jar of Coffee Mate and accused him of smuggling raw cocaine.

The MP said all he could do was to eat "mouthfuls" of it to prove otherwise.

Conservative MP Mr Fabricant, who was with a friend at the time, was eventually released and allowed to continue his holiday.

"I started tasting some of it and the guards insisted I had more to see if I was going to trip out"
Michael Fabricant

He said he ate several mouthfuls of the coffee whitener while M16 guns were pointed at him to prove it would not have any ill effects on him.

He offered some to the camouflaged guards, thinking that if it was pure cocaine it would be poisonous.

Mr Fabricant, who is now safely back home, said: "They started to speak to us in Spanish and unfortunately I don't really speak any Spanish at all.

"They started looking through our bags, and came across this container which was unmarked which contained this mysterious creamy, white powder, and they started shouting, 'cocaine, cocaine' or something that sounded like that in Spanish.

"I started to explain Coffee Mate and I don't think they understood because they were going, 'no coffee, no coffee'. I was saying I knew it wasn't coffee, but they were a bit bewildered."

Mr Fabricant said that although Colombian coffee was "really very, very good", he did not trust trying the local milk, which is why he had brought the coffee whitener with him.

He added: "I started tasting some of it and the guards insisted I had more to see if I was going to trip out.

"When it became obvious it wasn't happening, they started giggling and one tried it on their tongue.

"Mind you, I felt pretty ill after trying some. By the time you've had several scoops of Coffee Mate, and of course it expands in your stomach, it's not very nice."

*************************

As if people in ColUmbia didn't know better... Insta-Crem is freaking everywhere!! Why can't he just say the colombian army played a really funny prank on the gringo??? hahahaha

By Cerealkiller on Sep 5, 2008, 09:31 in Friendly Talkzone.

mariacvetanoski says on Sep 5, 2008, 09:45:

we sometimes have a problem like that with calcium vitamin white powder and or capsules when we send them to bogota- they get stolen or checked by customs

Save the street children of Colombia Now!!

0 funny, 0 helpful.

johnny2008 says on Sep 5, 2008, 09:53:

In a recent study, it was found that over 50% of Brits take their own food on holiday with them, you'd think an MP might have had the old alarm bells ringing though as he packed his white powder into a different container and headed to colombia. Doh!

0 funny, 0 helpful.

el_scouser says on Sep 5, 2008, 11:20:

Ah well its only a Tory. I borrow a quote from cerealkiller

Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives -John Stuart Mill

0 funny, 0 helpful.

Cerealkiller says on Sep 5, 2008, 11:30:

i have never had any problems with customs while transporting white powdery stuff. We don't use sugar or nutrasweet at home so whenever we return from Colombia we are always traveling with at lest a kilo of powdered stevia... never had a problem.

Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives -John Stuart Mill

0 funny, 0 helpful.

bopenyan (☼Travelguide writer) says on Sep 6, 2008, 00:28:

Serves him right for carrying around powdered creamer. Next time, leave the noxious poison at home.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

johnny2008 says on Sep 6, 2008, 03:51:

Thinking about this a bit more, what sort of idiot travels to a country recognised as having certain problems, then gets all fussy about the milk? What would make someone dubious of the milk before he even went there?

Furthermore, Nestlé is one of the world's biggest suppliers of food, what made him think that coffee mate isn't available in Colombia? A Quick web search would have confirmed that it indeed is available.

0 funny, 0 helpful.

adrimm (☼Travelguide writer) says on Sep 12, 2008, 20:58:

CK, How do you find stevia? I've been meaning to try it.. I should pick some up this weekend.

0 funny, 0 helpful.