My daughter, the dangerous deportee

Hello to all. As most of you know by now, there has been some excitement associated with our children’s travel to the idyllic island of Crete. After a week of sun and fun, during which no difficulties occurred, the children prepared to return home early Friday morning for a well-deserved rest from their vacation.

They placed their various bags onto the Heraklion Airport X-ray machine, and one was chosen for a more detailed examination, for good reason. Within its folds, the local authorities found a “cache” of what they said were 25 or 28 (number varies by source) Kalashnikov bullets. Yes, a “cache” — that’s how it was described in all the paperwork. And, as we later learned, in the local newspaper’s front page article. And on that night’s TV news in Athens.

Of course, the bag belonged to our 17-year-old daughter (name withheld to protect the innocent). Surrounded by approximately 15 large and rather mean looking armed security personnel, she was immediately arrested, handcuffs and all.

So far, not good. It gets worse.

Since our kids are Israeli and had come to Crete directly from Israel, where the bags “must have been checked conscientiously and thoroughly,” the Greek local authorities could not believe that the Israeli authorities had missed finding the bullets in Israel. Therefore, our daughter must be associated with a terrorist organization, possibly Al-Qaida. I kid you not; our attorney was later told this was part of their thinking.

In fact, as almost every Israeli knows, our young soldiers always have a few extra bullets in their possession. Our son, recently released from the army, was the source of the “Kalashnikov” rounds. (They were actually standard M-16 bullets.) It was his backpack that our daughter had grabbed for the trip.

Upon hearing that our sweet, innocent child had been detained in Crete, we panicked — but only for a moment. All must remember that we were in Amsterdam, about to head home ourselves. With the help of the local Dutch manager of the airline that the children were flying, Tomas, we were eventually able to find an attorney, Vassilakis, who could assist our daughter and us.

Vassilakis, who spoke English quite well, met with our daughter several times, spoke with us countless times, and helped us stay sane. Our daughter was released after several hours in police custody — first at the airport, and then at Heraklion’s central lock-up, where she was held in the same cell as a hooker, a thief and a drug addict. But when she was then taken to sign papers at the immigration police offices in the same building, she was promptly rearrested, pending a hearing and deportation. Yes, she was now officially “dangerous.” Thank goodness, at 17, she is still legally a minor.

My wife and I flew to Crete as fast as we could, with the assistance of a KLM agent who found us a cheap charter flight the same night. Upon our arrival, the senior airport police officer arranged for us to visit our daughter at the central lock-up downtown. He helpfully had a junior officer take us to the taxi stand, tell the driver where we had to go, wait outside the police station for us, and then take us to the hotel after our visit. It was about 12.30 am when we finally got to see her in jail — through a glass window, speaking via telephone. Yes, just like on TV. Our daughter was a star. The officers also allowed us to give her some sandwiches, drinks and a teddy bear we’d bought on the plane — after they’d all been thoroughly examined.

The next morning we met with Vassilakis at the police station, and with several law enforcement officers. After our signing a myriad of forms (in Greek) and showing a pre-paid one-way ticket off the island, they agreed to bring her to the airport that evening and put her on the plane home with us.

There were some bumps along the way — including the refusal of the airline, at one point, to allow the dangerous deportee to board. We witnessed an intense argument between the slight, female airline representative and those tough looking policemen. (At least it looked and sounded intense; it was all Greek to me.)

I want to state here how proud we are and all should be of our kids. Special kudos must be given to G and A, who stayed behind with our girl. They flew home shortly after we left. (No bullets in their bags.)

I also want to publicly thank the Greek authorities for the opportunity to take my wife on the visit she had long desired to the Greek Isles. Shame about the circumstances.