An Australian man visiting Bali was left stumped after he discovered his suitcase handles had been mysteriously cable tied.
The man had just touched down at Denpasar Airport when he noticed the ties had been clipped to his luggage.
“Landed last night and there’s a cable tie on both suitcase handles,” he posted to a Facebook group dedicated to Bali travel.
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“Anyone know what this means?”
The man’s post quickly gained a lot of attention from other travellers, with many guessing what the ties could represent.
“It means something has shown up in the X-rays, and they want to check your bag as you leave,” one person suggested.
“They only do it if the guys at customs see the cable tie, in future, put your hand over it on the way out.”
Another woman said she too had cable ties on her bag.
“It means they wanted to check your luggage,” she said.
“I got some scissors from the hotel and chopped it off and had no problem leaving Bali.”
But the man is not the only one to pose questions as to what the cable ties mean.
Last year, a woman who was flying with Jetstar from Sydney, noticed a cable tie when she arrived in Bali.
“Does anyone know what this cable tie on our bags means?” she said.
“Arrived last night and one bag took a bit longer and came out with this tag. I’m guessing it was inspected?”
Some frequent flyers offered a simple explanation behind the tag.
“The baggage ties just mean you have something in your luggage they think you shouldn’t have. Mainly extra alcohol,” one traveller explained.
Others revealed their suitcases were tagged with a cable tie after they were thoroughly checked by customs.
“I had the same thing on my bag. Customs searched my bag and took my alcohol,” one said.
It’s understood the cable ties are common practice in Bali, and simply mean customs wish to perform further checks on particular bags.
If a bag is cable tied, the traveller will be directed through to luggage x-ray machines and may have their bag manually inspected.
You can learn more about what you are allowed to pack in your luggage by visiting the Department of Home Affairs.
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