– After nearly 40 years as a customs officer, you get to know people well and learn to read them. It is part of my job to interpret body language. The same rules certainly don’t apply in a reality house, Steffen Eriksen (60) shakes his head in frustration.
In his daily work as a customs inspector, he knows exactly how to expose a liar.
– It is a combination of several things. How you are dressed, what luggage you have with you and what story is conveyed about the background to the journey to Norway. Those who serve the best lies are those who serve a lie as close as possible to the truth, says Steffen, and continues:
– Then I always have a look at the carotid artery of the person who arrives. You may seem perfectly calm like that, but I can observe that the pulse is beating. Then the person who is lying also has no control over whether he or she becomes pale and sweaty on the forehead.
Also read: Toller-Steffen was reverse-welded by Danby Choi
Television 2
Participating in the “Game”
The publican from the TV 2 program “Toll” took a big step outside his comfort zone when he chose to agree to participate in the new venture “The Game” – a program he thought had good prerequisites to master. But it didn’t quite go according to plan.
Television 2
– There were a number of things that, with my background, I should have “caught”, for which I am a bit angry with myself. “Father, you are so stupid, Steffen, who did that,” I thought afterwards. But I was both manipulated and moved by emotions, admits the experienced customs officer.
Yet he had done it again.
– I’m not 25 anymore. Being able to take part in something unknown and push my own limits instead of living the A4 life I’ve lived for a number of years was hugely exciting. I left the house an experience richer, and I had a blast!
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Television 2
The TV 2 program “Toll”
A4 is to be taken in, some would think. Through four seasons, TV viewers have become familiar with the nerve-wracking working day of the customs officer.
These days, Novemberfilm is busy recording seasons five and six of the popular TV 2 series.
The 60-year-old reveals that there have been some (a little too) dramatic experiences over the years.
– I have experienced someone who cut both of his wrists in our cell. Blood splattered everywhere, it dripped down the white walls and he smeared himself with it. It was really disgusting. I was scared at the time.
– Fortunately, it went well, and we are trained that different scenarios can happen. But you are never prepared for someone cutting your pulse, Steffen shuddered at the incident that took place a number of years ago.
Television 2
Through 40 years as a customs officer, Steffen, as mentioned earlier, has learned a lot about body language. The Fredrikstad man has also experienced that anyone chooses to risk life and liberty to smuggle illegal goods across national borders. Even grandma doesn’t go free.
– Here we have taken both an 85-year-old grandmother and a 16-year-old boy. I have experienced both, and it is probably the grandmothers who have surprised me the most, says Steffen, and adds:
– What I learned early on in this job is that all people are equally valuable – as banal as it sounds. How you look, where you come from, skin color or salary level – all matter equally, regardless of background. I live by that every day at work. Everyone must be treated equally, whether you are a so-called “boms” or a director with an annual salary of 40 million.
Television 2
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Smuggles inside the body
It is mainly illegal drugs that the customs officers are hunting for. And the most common is to smuggle the life-threatening substances inside the body.
Otherwise, Steffen says that both double-bottomed bags, PC bags and suitcases are used extensively. Although a seizure is always the focus, it has also happened that Steffen has been touched by the smugglers’ desperate situation.
Television 2
– When you have revealed a 19-year-old Brazilian boy with a stomach full of cocaine, who stands and tells you that he became a father three weeks ago and he has been forced to bring cocaine to Norway in order to have money for his family . It affects me quite a bit. It’s bad.
Svein Brimi
– I see from him that he is telling the truth, and that he had to take this trip so that the mother and children can get food. It is demanding, says Steffen about the sometimes emotionally demanding working day.
“The game” is broadcast on TV 2 on Sunday at 8 p.m. The program can also be streamed on TV 2 Play.
This case was first published on 28/04 2024.
Tags: Steffen Eriksen grandmothers surprised
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