Confiscated Materials
Here's kind of an interesting query. I know that printed materials like books, CDs, DVDs, etc. are subject to censorship/confiscation. I was reading in another thread about how someone ordered an item, only to have it confiscated.
Just out of sheer conversational curiosity, what have you had confiscated? Was it the mail, or a sea shipment, or when you walked through the airport?
Just sent a sea shipment for relocation. I guess we'll find out what's offensive when I notice half my books are missing. Ha!
I had taken my complete collection of the sitcom Friends (videotapes) and the movie Titanic (videotapes). Maybe I should have asked for them back but it didn't occur to me (3 years ago when I first arrived here!)
Yeah, when I get over to Virgin again (inshallah I'll get my lease car Wednesday so I can actually go somewhere else in Doha...) I'm going to have a look around. Glad I bought and brought a region-free dual-voltage DVD player. Best $100 investment I've made.
Well, if and when I get my books, I'll have to post what got taken out, if anything.
They were Windows Word and Office I think. My husband eventually received them, but it took about 6 weeks to get from UK to here - I imagine they were languishing somewhere in customs waiting to be viewed and cleared.
Coming out of Baghdad in the early 80s a lady security guard took me into a curtained off cubicle!!!! She took away my nail varnish remover (can't remember why I had that in hand baggage) which I didn't care about. However, she also grabbed hold of a music cassette I had. It took some quite fierce convincing from my side to get it back from her. I had recorded all my old 45s (vynil records) which went back to the 1950s on that cassette and I had no intention of letting go of it.
God knows what she thought I had recorded whilst in Iraq - Marsh Arabs rubbishing Saddam Hussein perhaps?
In the days before mobile phones, we had a hands free house phone (an early model a bit like a brick) confiscated.
The reason given was that it could be used as a car phone (only nationals were allowed car phones). Car phone with a range of 50m max?.
Luckily I worked with the brother of the then customs director and we got it back.
My DVDs came in my suitcase. I thought it was funny they x-ray luggage here, considering the dude was turned in his chair chattering away to a friend. I will say, though, it was such a relief after enduring the States, where they freak out over a pair of nail clippers. If you've got no intelligence and can bark at people like they're small children, you can get a job as airport security.
It's so nice to be away from there.
Anyway. Hopefully the bazooka launcher in my sea freight will also escape under their radar too. (^^)
hi
just wondering since this subject is opened up ... if one orders from the internet car performance parts when they arrive by sea or air.. will they be confiscated ??? does any one have any doha experience on this ???
tia
One time they took my shampoo at the airport. Forgot to put it in a ziplock bag and it was over the regulated size. Grr. I had just bought it too. Oh and one time they took my toothpaste. How am I going to harm the plane with toothpaste? Really. Not sure if that was the types of confiscated items you were wondering about.
They automatically confiscate dvds on entry when freight and view them to ensure that they aren't banned, ie rude, and then you can go and claim them back. They don't just take them without paperwork, but you will have to hassle your import agent to give you the form you need to go get them. The guys who view them are friendly enough and have good english so wasn't a problem for us. Finding out where they were was a nightmare and we would never have found them without the help of the Arabic teacher at our school who called the Customs and mediated. If you need help or directions, please pm me. jj