Operation Playboy

This is a book by Kathryn Bonella, a true story based on how people smuggling drugs into different countries, living a luxurious life and getting caught behind the bars.

For some reason, I'm very, very fond of true crime stories, always wanting to know the masterminds behind those criminals, and the reasons behind the crimes they made. More than half of the time is due to greed, others, more to their ego.

Sometimes I'll be too immersed in the incidents till I can actually broke down and cry. The most recent was when I watched Line Walker 2: Invisible Spy (使徒行者 II) with Husky. The theme was about human trafficking where terrorists kidnap orphans and train them to be assassins when they grow up. 

Before that I watched a movie in TV (forgot the movie title), human trafficking happened where girls (mostly orphans also, so that human traffickers don't have to waste time dealing with family members who track their lost ones down) were kidnapped, dolled up, and sold to the black market where the girls were auctioned to rich guys. Which eventually lead to prostitution. That makes me view prostitutes at a different perspective. Those who do it for quick money is different case, but others are actually due to no choice given.

Back to Operation Playboy. The author aka reporter actually got to interview the drug smugglers in prison and get a full picture from different different people who are involved. Poor people do it for money, rich people do it for adrenaline. And the technique used the most to smuggle drugs in this book is through surf boards and paragliders. NOW I look at surfers & paragliders in a different perspective too.

Back then, athletes are just athletes. They compete in sports. That's all. Now that I have read different books and watch different movies, they actually help me to see the world in a way that I've never imagine. You can imagine surfers and paragliders who compete to the international level are involved in drug smuggling. The worst thing is they smuggle drugs into Indonesia, known for death penalty for drugs.

All it takes is just one creative mind to block all the possibilities of being caught (the X-Rays can't scan the drugs, nor do the sniff-dogs be able to sniff the presence of drugs). The reward is huge, and for youngsters who like to surf and paraglide, doing this is more to satisfy their adrenaline rush. The excitement when they've successfully went through immigration and immigration.

Smuggling drugs is a long term thing. It's not like murder, where somebody found out their love one is missing, report to police and investigation begins. Well, of course there are exceptions but there's another story. Smuggling drugs can be a great achievement over the years, even in their whole lives.

I haven't even finish reading the whole book, but it sparks my interest until I Google-d up on the news in 2015 where 2 Australians were sentenced to death in Indonesia. I remember that incident was so huge it got into the headlines of newspapers everywhere because Australia government intervene in the incident so that the 2 inmates can escape death penalty. Unfortunately they don't, and they were executed by firing squad. It didn't really matter to me back then, but now that I read Operation Playboy, it makes me want to know more about the Aussie case.