The day my uncle almost got arrested in Mexico

My uncle Fernando met a very good friend from Mexico in 2016. He

showed him around the city and took him to nice places to try our cuisine
here in Lima. In return, Rigo, his new Mexican “cuate”, invited my uncle to
visit Mexico. So, Fernando planned everything for the year 2017. In
general, it was one his best trips in spite of one big misunderstanding that
could have had him arrested.

Since he had planned his trip in advance, he found a great deal for the
flight tickets. He packed his things and bought some presents. On the day
of departure, everything went on as expected. As organized as he is, my
uncle arrived at the airport on time and followed the regular procedure with
no inconvenience at all. The plane took off as scheduled and Fernando
made himself comfortable to take a short nap before eating some snacks
flight attendants usually offer in long distance trips. Hours passed by when
he woke up just in time to ask for a coffee. To his surprise, he realized that
his sleep had lasted long enough to be just a couple of kilometers far from
his destination: Ciudad de Mexico. Landing was smooth and people left the
plane in order. Once he got to the airport, he didn’t have to wait much in the
baggage claim area. Although there were lots of people, it was easy for my
uncle to spot his big black suitcase. Just when he had started thinking of
contacting his friend, a customs officer asked him to press a button on a
sort of traffic light. A red light appeared, which meant he had to have his
luggage inspected. He was not worried at all. However, the inspector,
clearly upset by what he had found, opened a plastic bag with lots of green
leaves inside. My uncle was firmly asked to explain what those leaves
were. So, without knowing the problem my uncle was getting into, he calmy
said that they were some coca leaves to use for infusion and that his friend
had told him that he wasn’t going to have any problem in customs. “This is
illegal”, the inspector replied. Then, Fernando learned that in Mexico it’s not
popular to use coca leaves as infusion drink. The inspector reported that to
one of his colleagues who immediately showed up staring at my uncle. At
this point, he was far from being calm. His hands started sweating and he
even feared he would be arrested and be part of one episode of Airport
Alert Mexico. “I didn’t know it was illegal”, my uncle insisted. Fortunately,
the inspector told him that it was not considered a case of drug trafficking,
but that they had to confiscate his bag of coca leaves because that didn’t
follow Mexican sanitary and phytosanitary requirements to enter the
country. “Please, fill out this form and you will be able to enter our country”,
the inspector said.

“The biggest lesson that I learned was never take any organic goods
without being properly sealed and registered by a legal and sanitary
organization here”, said my uncle Fernando two years ago. The bag of
coca leaves he wanted to give his Mexican friend as promised was from an
open market near his house. In response, I told him that he would have to
be extremely careful if he planned to take something from Peru to another
country. “Make sure it comes from a legal food company and it’s well
packed and sealed”, I said to him.

Direct speech
Reported speech