FBI Tries to Plant Drugs on Me Part 2 of 4
After I was released from custody in Hawaii, I boarded a plane to the West Coast and from there took a bus to Arkansas. When transferring buses at a main bus station, the FBI was waiting for me to frame me for drugs.
While waiting for my connecting bus in the station, I set my suitcase on a central table. I did not have a lock but I had fastened the zipper closed with a plastic zip tie which was not noticeable as the end was snipped off. I then sat down across the room and began to read a newspaper.
Meanwhile I watched two undercover FBI agents approach my case. They set a case on the table next to mine and pulled a paper bag out of their case. They then attempted to open my case but couldn’t due to the zip tie on my case. I then overheard one of the agents tell the other “how are we going to get the drugs in there [my case]? Before they could break the zip tie, a DEA female agent came into the station and walked up to me and asked “is that your bag on the table?” I said “yes,” she then asked if she could search it for drugs, I said “no.” She then said she would have to let a dog sniff it. She signaled and another DEA agent with a dog came in. He took my case from the table and set it on the ground. He then took a backpack from a nearby passenger and set it also on the ground next to mine. He then had the dog sniff both. The dog cleared both. He appeared puzzled that the dog didn’t alert on my bag, so he made a hand signal that caused the dog to alert on the backpack. He then guided the dog back to my case. At this it was clear he was going to cause the dog to alert to my bag so before he could, I intervened picking up my bag stating the dog had already cleared my case. At this the DEA agents left the station. They were obviously acting on a tip, but not in on trying to frame me.
However, the undercover FBI agents stayed, standing glaring at me with their arms crossed. Meanwhile I had observed each other person in the station that they had made eye contact with, thus I realized there was about 6 more undercover agents in the station who had not yet done anything. Just back up. I was scared because I didn’t know what they were going to do next. So I approached the agent who tried to plant the drugs in my case and asked him his name. To avoid talking to me he replied “no hablar inglés”. So in turn approached and asked each agent around the room their name as I had made who each was from their earlier eye contact. Each copied the first saying “no ingles.” So I then went back to the first agent and asked him in Spanish “te llamas” he didn’t reply but just stared at me.
At this point I figured they didn’t have time to involve the local police. So I picked up the pay phone and dialed 911. The 911 operator told me that the DEA was not sweeping the bus station. She said she would know because they would inform her first of any sweeps. While talking to the operator the undercover agents left the station. Guess they didn’t want to have to identify themselves to the police.
I then went to the station ticket counter to ask the bus agent for his name and phone number because I needed a witness to what happened. A bus driver sitting at a break table behind the counter spoke up volunteering giving me his name and number. He told me the undercover were FBI. I asked him how he knew. He stated because they had borrowed his suitcase which they had used and when they borrowed his case they had shown him their badge.
This was very terrifying because I realized that I was almost framed for drugs and the DEA agent that would have arrested me would never have known. He would have thought he had a valid bust. It would have been the perfect frame for a crime! I was saved simply because of a zip tie that delayed their timing.
-Stewart Waterhouse