A doctor says she has made a formal complaint about an incident at Cork Airport in which her husband was told he would be cautioned because his passport “smelled of cannabis”.
Dr Maria Gonzalez, who holds a British passport, said she was travelling with her husband, who is French, and had flown into Cork on their way to Kerry, when her husband was stopped by an immigration officer.
She explained that they arrived into the airport on an Aer Lingus flight and that they were the only black people on the flight.
They were the first to get off the plane and went through passport control separately, before going to the bathrooms, according to Dr Gonzalez.
As she came out of the bathroom, Dr Gonzalez said she saw her husband standing with what turned out to be an immigration officer.
She told the 96FM Opinion Line that the immigration officer waved everyone else from the flight through to baggage collection, then looked at ther husband and said: “You come with me, you’re smelling of marijuana.”
After that, she claims that other officers arrived and they said that “even the passport smells of marijuana”.
Dr Gonzalez alleges then that the Customs Officers started to check their bags before one of them handed the doctor her husband’s passport.
He then asked her: “Can’t you smell marijuana on this?”, to which she replied: “I don’t know the smell of marijuana, it smells like a passport to me.”
She explained that she has been stopped twice in about 23 years of travelling in the UK and said: “If you are targetted and stopped, it’s just something you do…it’s not that bad to be stopped, because usually the Customs Officers are polite and we know we have nothing to hide. But this was different.
“This was an accusation, they were making the claim before anything even happened, they had already accused him of committing a crime, which never happens to us at any airport.”
In the end, the officers found nothing and let them go.
However, Dr Gonzalez alleges that the immigration officer was not pleased about this and started shouting at her husband, saying that her husband was insulting his intelligence and he didn’t believe them.
She then claims that the immigration officer told her husband that he was going to caution him, keep his details on the system and he would be arrested if he came back into Cork.
She feels they were mistreated and plans to make a formal complaint to the Gardaí.
The Gardaí have said: “It is not possible just to charge someone on the odour of their passport, further evidence would be required.
“If a complaint is made it will be investigated.”
Cork Airport have declined to comment on the issue, with a spokesman saying: “The Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) operate Passport Control on arrival into Cork Airport. This is the sole responsibility of An Garda Síochána.
“Management at Cork Airport simply assist the Gardaí in delivering its service.”
Breakingnews.ie have reached out to Customs for reaction.
