First Grain of Sand — Page 35
JOURNEY TO THE U. S. S. R. 19 The officer drew his gun towards us and led both of us into an office building. Once inside his office, he closed the door and carried out a thorough search of my belongings, which included even tearing open a corner of my duvet and pillow to look inside to ensure there was no paper inside containing information from another government. It was the night of 14 December and was snowing heavily. The officer confiscated everything from me-all my clothes, my sleeping gear, books, train ticket, all remaining cash, and even the medication I was travelling with-and kept my belongings in the office, while handing me prison clothes to change into, and took me to the same cell as my Turkish guide where I was to be locked up.