I'm writing a mystery novel where an albanian gang smuggle large ammounts of women into the fictional city of Malkin. This city has no harbor or airport. The bring them in and sell them. They bring them with trains. For that they have people inside the union and some workers, the trip is like from Boston to Albany:
1) Does the cargo get inspected? How often?
2) How long would the ride be?
3) Does AMTRAK take care of cargo (like furniture or boxes)
4) How are cargo containers labeled, is there a specific code?
Sorry for my english, I write in spanish.
On a side note, my grandfather scaped the war in germany, went to the US by boat, didn't sign in, so he was illegal inmigrant, loved trains so much he lived a couple of years on trains, he then took one to mexico city, was educated as an engineer, worked in trains his whole life. Unfortunately he passed away and can't ask him
Sohem I'm writing a mystery novel where an albanian gang smuggle large ammounts of women into the fictional city of Malkin. This city has no harbor or airport. The bring them in and sell them. They bring them with trains. For that they have people inside the union and some workers, the trip is like from Boston to Albany: 1) Does the cargo get inspected? How often?
If the trip is entirely inside one country, no one inspects cargo unless the authorities have reason to believe that something illegal is going on. If the cargo crosses a border then Customs might inspect for contraband.
In a high speed passenger train, about five hours. An American freight might take more than twelve hours, but European freight schedules are faster. I suggest you look at a public timetable covering Albanian rail traffic, select two points an equivalent distance apart, then add some time for terminal loading and unloading.
I believe that Amtrak only handles passenger luggage, and that may move on a different train. A parcel big enough to hold a person would probably attract attention, especially if it started bouncing around and making noise.
If you are referring to individual boxes inside a closed car (or standard shipping container) they are labeled as to content but usually not individually coded. The standard (8x8x20 or larger) shipping container has reporting marks identifying the owner, but usually nothing on the outside indicating contents. That information would be found on separate paperwork. Since nobody really checks, the waybill might specify canned vegetables but the boxes might contain designer clothing.
Sorry for my english, I write in spanish. On a side note, my grandfather scaped the war in germany, went to the US by boat, didn't sign in, so he was illegal inmigrant, loved trains so much he lived a couple of years on trains, he then took one to mexico city, was educated as an engineer, worked in trains his whole life. Unfortunately he passed away and can't ask him
I feel your pain - there are a lot of things about the Pacific War that I'd like to ask my late father about.
We have one other thing in common. I recently completed a novel - but mine is set in the late 36th and early 37th centuries.
Chuck
Oh yeah - I'll help you !!! That's exactly the sort of stories I like ! Especially since unfortunately it's not so much fiction as it is actual crime , and one of the most brutal and damnable of crimes since it builds money making on captivating , degrading , misusing , raping human individuals , i e women and breaking their personalities by exposing them to extreme violence and sadistic play with fear of death - a 'charming' topic indeed . I propose you get your inspiration by checking for cities like Odessa / Black Sea from where such abducted women are being concentrated before being shipped across the sea in suiting tranches . The slave dealers transport them through East Anatolia , Turkey , to sell them in bordering countries to men who for reasons obvious would be at loss to persuade any woman at a minimum of her common sense to try and risk a life with them . Reason why this sort of business , in contrast to what might be expected , seems to have no end nor limit neither in cruelty nor in quantity simply is because of the appalling rate of 'consumtion' or 'wastage' or 'wear-out rate' of women having to endure such terrible fates , or more clearly : they usually don't survive it for very long and they are not supposed to .
On a site by an organization for displaced women I had read a report by one woman , Natalya I think was her name , who had managed to survive this ordeal , off hands here's a brief summary of her incredible odyssey :
A daughter of a poor farmer in Moldavia she heard news by a friend about chances for well payed jobs in Odessa - she made it to Odessa partly by lift on horse carriage , partly travelling by train without a ticket , partly by hiking . In Odessa she was contacted by a man who claimed being an agent of a private enterprise job center , she was soon being told presently there were no vacancies in Odessa but the agency would still get her a job , although it would be 'abroad' ; she was presented to a couple of men in a shabby back-side 'office' room and they consented they'd get here to a farm in need of harvest women in Turkey - the shipping cost would be advanced and she would have to pay it back only if an when receiving pay . Hoping to provide some help in view of her family's desperate needs she agreed . The men then convinced her she had to give her passport to them in order to handle the formalities to enter Turkey .
During the travel on board a shabby 'floating coffin' slowly treading its way southbound to a dubious destination she found the friendly talking men who had first contacted her was not there anymore and tones had sharpened severely . Arriving at some small sea shore village the women were being 'unloaded' at night and got transported by truck over bumpy roads for about an hour until reaching a forlorn shack where they were commanded off the truck and were locked in . The place was a shock , caked with dirt , worn matresses with cockroaches abounding , sassy rats inspecting the newly arrived . From there , some women were soon being separated , allegedly to be brought to their working location - still they were being told sedative lies like it was all necessary to avoid trouble with turkish police authorities since the jobs were officially reserved for Turks only - lies of course aimed at keeping the women from revolting . I will skip descriptions of ways the women were treated while at the cottage or else I might have to vomit .
Natalya was with the last lot of five to leave the shack . During several days of transporting and imprisoning being mistreated or raped arbitrarily while one after another was being taken off the lot , it had become pretty clear to the women , in spite of desperate hopes things would turn out half ways as but a transient hardship to finally get to some sort of work , this just wasn't going to happen . To understand the situation and the longstanding good hopes you must know that information about professional slave trading is virtually nonexistent in places like rural , say forlorn , small towns , often no more than a dozen houses , in Ukraine or the Caucasian countries , thus , reality of crime is largely beyond imagination of these unassuming victims .
When Natalya was sold to a customer she found herself 'lucky' to face a fate of comparatively 'limited inhumanness' . I will again skip details which would define the largely wanting quality of my term 'limited inhumanness' .
In a nutshell , after some months of working and surviving as a human domestic animal and 'human doormat' to be beaten , flogged , whipped , raped or what came to her master's minds , she managed to escape . First problem was : nourishment while on the run , hiding during daylight and finding out where she was . I cut again her odyssey through foreign country of basically near stone-age infrastructure , for part of the trip finding help and protection by the matron of one traveling gypsy family , then working at a farm for some time until the farmer patriarch told her to move on before he would risk trouble for his family . Walking for weeks on end partly over country roads at night , partly straight across the arid landscape to avoid unwanted contact , in spite of all caution she got cought by military border controls , being imprisoned again , rented by soldiers to comrades as a welcome female body to rape . Finally , while having to clean an office she took a chance of an alarm causing confusion to escape again .
Winter came , making things even harder for her - winter went . She had finally made it over the green border into Turkey , having been told authorities there know about the problem and are mostly helpful to return displaced women back across the Black Sea . Mostly , not always . She was told of a skipper who was willing to cross the Sea but he would charge for it - she had no money to pay . The skipper hinted another smuggler , she contacted the man . It turned out he was in contact with the organization she had managed to escape from the previous year , he was about to return her eastbound to encash for having trapped and returned her - she managed to run away having pretended to agree meeting the boat to leave harbor at nightfall , but was at peril while in that sea shore village .
There was word about international truck drivers going to Greece and on to Austria , Germany , even Norway . Problem was , how to be sure not to run into one who would also take part in women sex trafficking . She took the risk and got on a truck , stowed away among cargo for dodging police controls (no papers!) . Approaching the border , the driver stopped in a siding and came to get his 'dues' , i e rape her . They got across the border and into the European community .
She made it into Germany . German authorities found her in course of a raid of lowly red light houses known for forced prostitution , together with some other women from former Eastern-European countries they took hold of her , she got some medical treatment . It was found she had made her odyssey with several broken ribs , clavicle fracture and metacarpals fractures on her left hand - some of which had to be broken anew because they had crookedly consolidated , some of which had not consolidated at all because of constant strain and movement and had to be nailed , hopefully to heal . Since her's was not a case of political persecution and the Ukraine is not considered a state violating human rights she was considered an illegal immigrant and got on a transport back to Odessa - about two years after first leaving on that fateful trip .
However , all this doesn't fully conform with the scope of topics of this site which is about trains , basically ...
Regards
Juniatha
Edit : some sentences / words better specified
Oh , by the way : I was with a documentary film crew on a project on women's lives in Eastern Anatolia , I know what I write about .
Although it has happened that people have been smuggled in shipping containers, I think it's relatively rare. I recall one attempt to bring illegal immigrants into the US where most if not all of the people in the container died from lack of oxygen, as the containers are pretty much airtight.
I'd think in a move like you're thinking of writing about, it would be a lot more logical for the move to be made by truck. They'd have to load the container in a secret location, then get a truck to haul it to a rail yard, then get it loaded onto a railcar, then reverse the process later at the destination. Conversely, you could do the same trip by truck in a matter of hours, and not have the risks you'd have shipping by rail.
p.s. as noted, Amtrak doesn't really handle express like packages, except for some sealed cars of mail in special cars. I don't think anyone would be able to smuggle women in those cars.
Smuggling people inside shipping containers is a lot more common than you think. One concern about using radiation (1 t0 9 MeV photons or neutrons) for scanning cargo containers is what happens if people are inside the container?
- Erik
To everyone in this thread :
What I hoped to convey in my comment was :
* the topic is disgusting
* the topic is not topical in what is basically a railroading-oriented forum
Thank you for understanding
= J =