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A middle-aged man sat in a sofa in an air-conditioned room of an airport, staring at the officer facing him; the latter had her left hand on a small laptop.

"I have a very important message for you, traveller," she began. "However, we heard that you are a puzzle lover, so we have encrypted the message for you to solve. The cipher used is very simple and you can use this computer to work things out; everything's loaded already so no need for physical paper. I'll give you 15 minutes."

oetgn oinsf aftji gazqh btejx reqau jrtkk ugrov uphwv
przqh snhhi nhgjb ufvdw feguq gight wnmup bpajp tppgi
gpbtb vurmn jigef wcppj fhbvp qtqzf vujpt twfqk pjqht
csuge prrok ahvuf vfbnb dmjfc flgqz qhuqt pvbbu cfevb
ngpky fvgpt rmkrw glpwe tgygc aehbv pqoqg ikahp bugjp
tgiag igefj bxgif tlpwe mwthc tfebo vnjpr evujt gzvjp
iebof phppe njprx gnsgh ouhsg ntvbi qjujr tenop rsuno
fqpif oksgg etcgm jegcv mgquq qfvrd vgikf cwgxg gikal
kgggy mqhuq sbnrb fpbrf vnrjp smkti vefin sfyfu fvpqf
tffeg jqagk ifqsp wenkf vurph qswtt cpuab vjnwg ppozj
vgffg igbgh roerp hqswt utngh vdmvo inofj jnycg fvdwf
egvpq ftgig ffebo ffdjr ewyfq sujrt czfcp uvbbo nofnu
qezfr bvuqg abngz yrujv omlpw jjnyc gsjpr jpgik fdkgz

The man, not knowing which country he was in, quietly got to work and was able to decode everything within the allotted time. When he saw the decrypt on the screen, though, he put his hands to his face in shame and cried.

"What have I done...? I never recalled that thing in my luggage..."

Which country did the man land in and what clues in the message allowed him to ascertain it?

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1 Answer 1

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This is

a Vigenere cipher with code CNB, spelling:
MR SEAN GARDNER, WHEN YOU ARRIVED ON THE SIXTEENTH OF JUNE, YOUR LUGGAGE WAS SUBJECT TO THE USUAL SCANNING ON THE CAROUSELL [sic], WHEREUPON WE FOUND SOMETHING SUSPICIOUS. AFTER OPENING THE TSA LOCK, WE ASKED YOU TO GO TO A SPECIAL TOILET TO RELIEVE YOURSELF AND FOUND NOTHING NOTEWORTHY THERE. HOWEVER, YOUR LUGGAGE CONTAINED THIRTY-TWO GRAMS OF COCAINE. WE ARE UNSURE AS TO HOW THE SCANNERS AND DOG SNIFFERS AT LHR FAILED TO DETECT THIS, BUT WE THINK IT FELL OUT OF A LEAD CAPSULE IN FLIGHT. REGARDLESS, UNDER SECTION FIVE OF OUR MISUSE OF DRUGS ACT, YOU HAVE COMMITTED THE OFFENCE OF DRUG TRAFFICKING AND WILL BE SUBJECT UNDER THE SECOND SCHEDULE OF THE SAME ACT TO A MANDATORY DEATH PENALTY. WE THINK YOU WILL BE FINE IN THIS CITY

As Gareth mentioned in the comments, "CNB" is the Central Narcotics Bureau of Singapore, which does indeed practice the death penalty. I'm not sure what the last sentence is supposed to mean, though.

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    $\begingroup$ ...not quite. The UK has no death penalty. $\endgroup$ Commented Jun 3, 2021 at 19:45
  • $\begingroup$ @ParclyTaxel True, but I wasn't sure what that was supposed to mean with the last sentence. It doesn't really make sense to me in context. $\endgroup$
    – Deusovi
    Commented Jun 3, 2021 at 20:33
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    $\begingroup$ rot13(PNEBHFRYY) is just as wrong in the UK as in the US; there are cases where BrE doubles letters that AmE doesn't, but this isn't one of them. I would interpret the message as saying that rot13(ur jnf pbzvat sebz YUE). I'd have guessed that rot13(PAO zvtug or gur nvecbeg pbqr sbe jurer ur vf abj) but in fact rot13(gung'f Pbbanzoyr nvecbeg va Nhfgenyvn, juvpu unf ab erthyne syvtugf ng nyy, fb gung frrzf hayvxryl -- naq V qba'g guvax Nhfgenyvn unf gur qrngu cranygl rvgure). It turns out that rot13(PAO vf gur Prageny Anepbgvpf Ohernh bs Fvatncber) so that's where he is. $\endgroup$
    – Gareth McCaughan
    Commented Jun 3, 2021 at 20:59
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    $\begingroup$ (I'm also confused about how the traveller didn't know what country they were in.) $\endgroup$
    – Gareth McCaughan
    Commented Jun 3, 2021 at 21:01
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    $\begingroup$ @GarethMcCaughan (Yes, that confused me too. And why they would give the traveller an encoded message to tell them about their arrest.) $\endgroup$
    – Deusovi
    Commented Jun 3, 2021 at 21:02

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