He answered the phone.
A man’s voice came on, saying “Don’t speak! Just listen very carefully. Your future life depends entirely on you listening carefully to what you are told. Say ‘yes’ if you understand.”
He took a few moments to take it in, then said, “Yes.”
“We know what you’ve been doing,” came the voice.
He went to answer, then thought better of it. He remained silent.
“We have bank statements,” the voice went on. “We have copies of the cargo manifests, the sea container identification numbers, the shipping rosters and your deposit and collection sites throughout Europe. We have everything we need to alert the relevant authorities to your entire operation and send you to prison for a very long time.” There was a pause. “If you have understood this so far, indicate with a simple “Yes’”.
“Yes.”
“OK. Within minutes of this call you will receive instructions by email regarding the amount, together with the time and place for the drop. You will commit this to memory and delete the email. We have remote access to your computer and will know if you have complied. Follow these instructions and you get to keep your operations intact.”
“All clear so far?”
The man took a deep breath and said, “Yes.”
“Good. We know you’ll need time to make all these arrangements. We know where you work, the position you hold in the office and who your boss is. You’ll need to convince him that you need to take a few days off to deal with private matters. We have people there and you will be observed.”
Another short pause, then the voice said, “You have a busy time in front of you. I suggest you check your email.”
The man jumped in quickly and said, “OK. I think I should tell you that I work in a factory and my boss is a woman.”
After a short silence, the voice said, “Oops!”
Click.