Iran Charges 3 Hikers with Espionage

[Jimbeaux]

If Iran is correct, spies are getting younger and geekier.
They should be charged with stupidity for hiking in Iraq's mountains....The Smoky Mountain National Park is nice this time of year.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8350673.stm

Edited by Jimbeaux on Monday 9th November 18:05

[teapea]

What the hell where they doing hiking around there !

[Marf]

Political move, clearly.

[Jimbeaux]

Marf said:

Political move, clearly.

All joking aside, obviously it is just that.

[poo at Paul's]

No, apparently they had photos of some Top Secret sand and rocks and st.

[Jimbeaux]

poo at Paul's said:

No, apparently they had photos of some Top Secret sand and rocks and st.

Well, in that case, they are on their own!

[EDLT]

teapea said:

What the hell where they doing hiking around there !

So they could out smug all the other backpackers.

[Jimbeaux]

EDLT said:

teapea said:

What the hell where they doing hiking around there !

So they could out smug all the other backpackers.

Stupid and cool share a fine line.

[pokethepope]

"Shane Bauer...."

[jshell]

Nowt as stupid as people.

One of my colleagues got chatting to 2 youngish & very blonde Scandinavian girls on a flight to Nigeria back on 2004/2005. He asked what they were doing going down there and they replied that they'd hitch-hiked across Kenya the year before and were gonna do the same in Nigeria. Oh, FFS!

My colleague put them right and strongly advised that they get to Lagos, head for the ticket office and fly straight back to Europe.

[Jimbeaux]

jshell said:

Nowt as stupid as people.

One of my colleagues got chatting to 2 youngish & very blonde Scandinavian girls on a flight to Nigeria back on 2004/2005. He asked what they were doing going down there and they replied that they'd hitch-hiked across Kenya the year before and were gonna do the same in Nigeria. Oh, FFS!

My colleague put them right and strongly advised that they get to Lagos, head for the ticket office and fly straight back to Europe.

Good on him; that adventure would have had a good chance of ending badly.

[jshell]

Jimbeaux said:

jshell said:

Nowt as stupid as people.

One of my colleagues got chatting to 2 youngish & very blonde Scandinavian girls on a flight to Nigeria back on 2004/2005. He asked what they were doing going down there and they replied that they'd hitch-hiked across Kenya the year before and were gonna do the same in Nigeria. Oh, FFS!

My colleague put them right and strongly advised that they get to Lagos, head for the ticket office and fly straight back to Europe.

Good on him; that adventure would have had a good chance of ending badly.

Oh yeah, gauranteed to be! The guy was one of your neighbours too Jimbeaux, a real coon-ass!

[Bill]

Jimbeaux said:

Marf said:

Political move, clearly.

All joking aside, obviously it is just that.

It's a pretty stupid place to be hiking given the way Iran jump at the chance to hold people. This case springs to mind:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_Iranian_seizure_of_Royal_Navy_personnel

[Neil_H]

Three Americans hiking through Iraq? Idiots.

[Hugo a Gogo]

I tend to think in many of these cases the people often aren't as innocent as made out (of course these ones may be the exception that proves the rule)

btw, what would the Americans do with some Mexican students who accidentally wandered over their border?

[ErnestM]

Hugo a Gogo said:

I tend to think in many of these cases the people often aren't as innocent as made out (of course these ones may be the exception that proves the rule)

btw, what would the Americans do with some Mexican students who accidentally wandered over their border?

Give them the vote

[HereBeMonsters]

Jimbeaux said:

jshell said:

Nowt as stupid as people.

One of my colleagues got chatting to 2 youngish & very blonde Scandinavian girls on a flight to Nigeria back on 2004/2005. He asked what they were doing going down there and they replied that they'd hitch-hiked across Kenya the year before and were gonna do the same in Nigeria. Oh, FFS!

My colleague put them right and strongly advised that they get to Lagos, head for the ticket office and fly straight back to Europe.

Good on him; that adventure would have had a good chance of ending badly.

When they say hitch-hiking- no-one in Africa gives lifts for free. Did they just take bush taxis across the place or what?

[jshell]

HereBeMonsters said:

Jimbeaux said:

jshell said:

Nowt as stupid as people.

One of my colleagues got chatting to 2 youngish & very blonde Scandinavian girls on a flight to Nigeria back on 2004/2005. He asked what they were doing going down there and they replied that they'd hitch-hiked across Kenya the year before and were gonna do the same in Nigeria. Oh, FFS!

My colleague put them right and strongly advised that they get to Lagos, head for the ticket office and fly straight back to Europe.

Good on him; that adventure would have had a good chance of ending badly.

When they say hitch-hiking- no-one in Africa gives lifts for free. Did they just take bush taxis across the place or what?

Dunno really, it was a conversation with a Louisiana'n colleague of mine. I've been in Nigeria (rotaional) for years and I wouldn't bloody try it! Even though I do run over a mile to the gym most nights.

I saw another case, shockingly pretty Dutch girl getting off the plane in Lagos with her local boyfriend. She looked terrified coming through the MMIA airport - even the veterans hate it - so when her b/f fked off looking for a trolley I asked if she was OK? She said she didn't like it and just recently met the guy. Nothing I could do and I wondered what happened to her. Probably nothing, but this can be a bad place to go missing. There aren't many tourists here and the roads/traffic/slums/islands/markets can be 'interesting'!

[HereBeMonsters]

jshell said:

HereBeMonsters said:

Jimbeaux said:

jshell said:

Nowt as stupid as people.

One of my colleagues got chatting to 2 youngish & very blonde Scandinavian girls on a flight to Nigeria back on 2004/2005. He asked what they were doing going down there and they replied that they'd hitch-hiked across Kenya the year before and were gonna do the same in Nigeria. Oh, FFS!

My colleague put them right and strongly advised that they get to Lagos, head for the ticket office and fly straight back to Europe.

Good on him; that adventure would have had a good chance of ending badly.

When they say hitch-hiking- no-one in Africa gives lifts for free. Did they just take bush taxis across the place or what?

Dunno really, it was a conversation with a Louisiana'n colleague of mine. I've been in Nigeria (rotaional) for years and I wouldn't bloody try it! Even though I do run over a mile to the gym most nights.

I saw another case, shockingly pretty Dutch girl getting off the plane in Lagos with her local boyfriend. She looked terrified coming through the MMIA airport - even the veterans hate it - so when her b/f fked off looking for a trolley I asked if she was OK? She said she didn't like it and just recently met the guy. Nothing I could do and I wondered what happened to her. Probably nothing, but this can be a bad place to go missing. There aren't many tourists here and the roads/traffic/slums/islands/markets can be 'interesting'!

I lived in Nigeria for 13 years, so I know what you're on about. Luckily only 5 of those were in Lagos, of which 4 were actually Ikeja. Abuja for the last 3, which was a walk in the park compared Lagos. In fact, there were actually some parks, and you could walk in them. That was novel.
I certainly wouldn't let my missus go off on her own around Lagos, but most places North of there are OK.

BTW - what do you do out there? I need to find out about telecoms in Lagos. Been 5 years since I was last there, and now the company I work for wants to set up a small distribution office. The bloke out there reckons the only way to get decent internet is a 3G card, but they seem bloody expensive. Is there any terrestrial broadband out there yet?

[jshell]

HereBeMonsters said:

jshell said:

HereBeMonsters said:

Jimbeaux said:

jshell said:

Nowt as stupid as people.

One of my colleagues got chatting to 2 youngish & very blonde Scandinavian girls on a flight to Nigeria back on 2004/2005. He asked what they were doing going down there and they replied that they'd hitch-hiked across Kenya the year before and were gonna do the same in Nigeria. Oh, FFS!

My colleague put them right and strongly advised that they get to Lagos, head for the ticket office and fly straight back to Europe.

Good on him; that adventure would have had a good chance of ending badly.

When they say hitch-hiking- no-one in Africa gives lifts for free. Did they just take bush taxis across the place or what?

Dunno really, it was a conversation with a Louisiana'n colleague of mine. I've been in Nigeria (rotaional) for years and I wouldn't bloody try it! Even though I do run over a mile to the gym most nights.

I saw another case, shockingly pretty Dutch girl getting off the plane in Lagos with her local boyfriend. She looked terrified coming through the MMIA airport - even the veterans hate it - so when her b/f fked off looking for a trolley I asked if she was OK? She said she didn't like it and just recently met the guy. Nothing I could do and I wondered what happened to her. Probably nothing, but this can be a bad place to go missing. There aren't many tourists here and the roads/traffic/slums/islands/markets can be 'interesting'!

I lived in Nigeria for 13 years, so I know what you're on about. Luckily only 5 of those were in Lagos, of which 4 were actually Ikeja. Abuja for the last 3, which was a walk in the park compared Lagos. In fact, there were actually some parks, and you could walk in them. That was novel.
I certainly wouldn't let my missus go off on her own around Lagos, but most places North of there are OK.

BTW - what do you do out there? I need to find out about telecoms in Lagos. Been 5 years since I was last there, and now the company I work for wants to set up a small distribution office. The bloke out there reckons the only way to get decent internet is a 3G card, but they seem bloody expensive. Is there any terrestrial broadband out there yet?

No broadband yet! I'm based in Ikoyi, work in Marina and Snake Island as a Subsea Engineer.

However, I do know a local guy big into telecoms particularly MTN. Stupidly rich, walks about with either a bi-metal sub or rose gold AP on his wrist down here. Property all over the place. Nigeria is only 35% saturated with telecoms, it's a big market! PM me and I'll get you the guy's (Mike) contact details if you like.