Don't trust a man carrying a Versace bag

Algeria puts out a brochure you can find at the airport about its rigorous security measures and getting from Algiers to the south of the country we went through six separate checks.

While waiting for our flight into the desert a man in a suit with a skinny mustache came up to us speaking French. He was smoking and he was carrying two plastic Versace bags.

Are you going to Tamanrasset tonight? he wanted to know. Yes we said.
Well, could you possibly carry these bags with you? he wanted to know next. I was hearing every warning about not accepting bags from strangers that I ever heard in airports playing back in my head as Hawley told him firmly: "Non, c'est impossible."

Well, he tried again, even if the bags will pass through police security?

No! we said again.

Then we watched him approach several other people. And finally an elderly man agreed to carry the bags. The mustached man then walked him past us in the line going through passport control, which really pissed me off. Obviously someone was in on the deal or paid off.

It was very hard after that to take the searching seriously. WHAT ABOUT THE VERSACE BAG? we kept chanting.