3News
By Michael Morrah
Thursday, July 08, 2010
|
|
Sabir Dayib was delayed while Customs officials questioned him and searched his luggage.
His case isn't isolated but Customs says Somalis are not being targeted unfairly.
Sabir Dayib was unpacking this afternoon, still angry at having his luggage gone through by customs officials.
Officials told him he was suspected of carrying an African plant called khat, that creates methamphetamine-like effects, and is classified as a Class C illegal drug.
Customs say Dayib was correctly profiled as a person of interest.
Dayib admits his brother had a run in with customs as well, but says that was years ago.
A day before Dayib was checked, Abdulkadir Hassan, another Somali national, was also detained and searched.
He says he was delayed for three hours.
“White man. They were all going the right way. Why they harass me ? I am holder of the New Zealand passport. Why they did this? I don't know, because of my black skin I think,” says Mr Hassan.
A Somali community leader says she's aware of at least 10 recent cases where Somali people have been subjected to random searches.
“Some people feel that is discrimination because they're New Zealanders and we are Somali Kiwis,” she says.
A customs spokesperson said they have meetings with the New Zealand Refugee Council regularly to try and improve understanding about what they do with a range of communities.
Customs says the laws in place apply to everyone equally and they don't profile on the basis of race.
Source: 3News