British man detained in Mexico after being mistaken for a criminal > 문의하기

A British pensioner claims he was treated 'like a serial killer' when he was deported from Mexico after being mistaken for an 'international criminal'. 

When Tony Smith and his wife Carole, both 66, from Worthing, West Sussex decided to celebrate their retirement with a £3K holiday in Cancun, they were dreaming of sunshine, luxury and relaxation.

Instead, they got the holiday from hell when retired businessman Tony was detained at Cancun airport for three days in a 10 sq ft room with no windows, no pillow and only two thin blankets for comfort.

Although the exact reason for his detention still remains a mystery, the father-of-four was told by airport officials that his name was on a US watch list of international criminals. 

He's since discovered he shares his name with multiple wanted criminals in the US, although not the same date of birth.

Tony has also discovered that airlines hand over passenger details from every plane travelling over American airspace to Canada, the Caribbean and Mexico - even if the flight never actually lands on US territory, so that officials can cross check this against the US No Fly List.

The pensioner now fears going abroad again in case the same thing happens, but is at a loss how to clear his name. 




Anthony and Carole Smith, pictured on a previous holiday, found themselves on a holiday from hell when Tony, 66, was mistaken for an international criminal at Cancun airport and deported

Four months on from the incident Carole, 66, who has been married to Tony for 30 years, said their holiday in November 2018 was 'strange' from the start.

'Whenever we travel abroad, we always check-in online and print out our tickets before leaving the house. But for some reason, we were unable to do so for this trip,' she recalled. 

'So at Gatwick Airport, we handed over our paperwork to the lady on the British Airways check-in desk.

'But while my ticket printed out immediately, she couldn't get Tony's to go through. She struggled for 30 minutes, calling a colleague to help, before it finally processed.'




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Something amiss 

At the departure gate, once again Carole's ticket was checked with no problems. But when it was Tony's turn, a mysterious alert flashed up on the screen.

Tony, 66, explained how the man taking the tickets asked his colleague if he knew what the alert meant, but they simply said: 'Never seen it before. Just override it.'

He added: 'When my boarding pass was printed out, it had four Ss along the bottom, which was new to me. I've flown abroad many times, 연체자티비 and never noticed anything like that before.'

However, soon the Smiths were on their way to their sunshine holiday. Their all-inclusive deal had set them back £3,000, but they didn't mind forking out for their once-in-a-lifetime holiday. 




Wife Carole was taken to their hotel, bedroom pictured, but had no money or phone charger on her and said she couldn't enjoy the luxury break as she was worrying about her husband





During his three-day wait for a flight back to the UK Tony was kept in a small room and made to sleep on a thin mattress, pictured, with only two thin blankets and no pillow





The father-of-four was told to shower in a cramped space, pictured, stacked with mops

But when they landed, thinks went wrong when Tony was ushered into a side room as he queued up to go through passport control. 

'I couldn't understand what was going on. For half an hour I waited for him outside that room, but I wasn't particularly anxious,' Carole recalled. 

Finally, an official appeared to say she could go inside, to join her husband who was being questioned by a national security officer.

Carole said: 'The man didn't speak much English, so was talking into a phone that flashed up translations of what he was saying. 

'He barked at my husband: "Why are you here? How much money do you have with you? Have you ever been to America before?" 

Tony turned to his wife and rolled his eyes, saying: 'I've answered these questions 50 times already, but he isn't listening.'