Deppe got in line. He watched the agents and inspectors go through his luggage and then one of them ran his hands lightly over his clothing.
“What is it all about this time?” he asked.
The inspector grinned. “Just another one of those routine checks, Captain. I’ll admit it’s getting monotonous.”
But it was more than merely another routine check. Several weeks earlier Tom Duncan, chief of the Customs Service’s Racket Squad, had received a tip from an informer in Antwerp that diamonds were being smuggled into the United States by crew members of a trans-Atlantic airline. The informer didn’t know which airline was involved. All he knew was that the carriers were airline employees. The chances were, however, that the carriers were employees of the Belgian airline, Sabena.
Duncan called in several agents and told them the story. “Let’s start shaking down the crew members on those Sabena planes,” he said. “We can’t search them on every flight. But we can make it so rough maybe somebody will crack.”
The searches had been underway for more than a month when Duncan received a telephone call from a Sabena representative.
“What can I do for you?” Duncan asked.
“We’re pretty upset about these searches,” the caller said. “One of our crew members is in my office now. He wants to talk to you. He believes he has some information that may be helpful. Will you see him?”
“Of course I’ll see him,” Duncan said.
“He’ll be at the Henry Hudson Hotel in one hour,” the Sabena representative said. “Room 301. He’s one of our radio operators.”