I remember the two girls bumped into a random white girl while running to get into the line to board the plane. She was probably one of the other drug mules Nick hired to go to Hong Kong, yeah?
shareShe was the one that the attorney ended up visiting in HK.
The sun shone, having no alternative, on the nothing new. Samuel Beckett
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Ohhh,man!
During the few seconds of the bump-in at the airport, I seriously doubt that she had enough time to move the drugs from her backpack to the one that Alice and Darlene were carrying.
She did look pretty agitated when she heard the sirens and then saw the police heading in her general direction. IMO, she probably thought that the police were coming for her, and here are a few reasons why:
First, when Hank goes to see her later on in the movie, it is very apparent that she is a drug addict. Secondly, "Nick Parks", "Skip Karn", or whatever that guy's name was also bought her a "free" plane ticket to Hong Kong, just as he did for Alice and Darlene. I guess at that point she was smart enough to realize that there was something not kosher about her "free" plane ticket. However, trying to run at that point would be stupid. If the police was indeed there for her, they would have caught her anyway, and running would make her look even more guilty. Luckily for her, when police pointed their guns at Alice and Darlene, there was that huge sign of relief on her face and she simply proceeded getting on that plane.
As we later find out, that girl's drugs were in the luggage. What prompted Hank to go see her in Hong Kong was that when his wife started digging, she found out that her plane ticket was purchased using the same stolen credit card as Alice and Darlene's and on top of that, a suitcase was checked in her name that was never claimed when that flight arrived in Hong Kong. When Hank went to see her, she did admit to him that she was questioned by HK police and customs about the suitcase and in her own words, "someone's been trying to mess her up". My guess is that the smuggling operation in this movie had a real fool-proof way: transport drugs with luggage of poor unsuspecting passengers, if things get too risky, simply don't claim it, the authorities will come after the passenger who will lead them to the guy with fictitious name who is no longer where they last saw him. Tracing the purchaser of the plane ticket would also be useless as it was purchased with stolen credit card. Since that girl was not in prison when Hank saw her in HK, my guess is that the local authorities did in fact believe her that she knew nothing about the drugs being transported in her name and let her be.
how were none of their bags already checked at security? do they check bags before you board the plane in line in Thailand ??
shareGood point, but you may be forgetting that this movie is around 17 years old by now and takes place several years before 9/11, when airport security was far more lax compared to what it is today.
As far as I can remember regarding my own travels before 9/11, not everyone's carry-on was scanned, they would randomly yank a dozen or so passengers for any given flight and scan their stuff, but most certainly not everyone. Also, getting to the airport around 30 minutes before scheduled departure was plenty of time. This day and age, everything get scanned, in some cases several times over if they see something they don't like and by the guidelines you have to be at the airport at least 2 hours before; with the latest criticism of TSA for their slow performance I would probably be there 4-5 hours ahead of time to avoid missing a flight.
Also, security at airports in less developed countries such as Thailand could be more lax as well. While I've never been to Thailand, when I was returning from 2 vacations: one in Mexico and one in Jamaica, carry-ons were scanned using some archaic X-Ray machine at the main airport security checkpoint where I wouldn't be surprised if something crucial was missed. However, at the actual gate all flights bound for the US and other developed nations there was another checkpoint and more sophisticated scanners. Passengers on local flights and those bound for less developed nations were not scrutinized that heavily.
Obviously, I have no idea how strict airport security is at Thailand back in the days when this movie takes place vs now. However, if this took place now, these girls would be busted right at the airport security checkpoint, there would be no need for an anonymous phone tip. And if I was the one who caught them my thoughts would be: either these girls are dumb as a doorknob or they were indeed set up.