THE EDITOR, Sir:
AS A former high school teacher, when teaching a class of sixth formers, I gave a hypothetical situation concerned with ethics. I asked the class (of about 20) if they were a customs officer at the wharves and a man came with US$60,000 in cash and made an offer of the money in exchange for allowing a container stuffed with ammunition into the country, would they accept it?
To a man they all said they would accept the US$60,000.
This was a class of young students from all income brackets. They did not care that the ammunition would be used to kill innocent people. As far as they were concerned they needed the money. With a mindset like that, it is easy for underpaid members of the state to succumb to the prospect of quick money and to totally ignore the consequences.
Now imagine a member of Al Quaeda importing a nuclear weapon into Kingston Harbour and simply paying off customs officials or promising scholarships for their sons and daughters. It's that simple. When people are driven to despair and live in dead-end economies they share the fate of a country like Sudan or Niger, They become a hotbed for terrorists and narco billionaires.
Sounds paranoid doesn't it? An attack on the World Trade Centre with passenger planes sounded paranoid and yet it happened.
I am, etc.,
JOHN TOBISCH
johntobisch32@hotmail.com
Duisburg, Germany
