A walking encyclopedia of underworld activity, Hardberger was able to recite, country by country, the ports that had yet to go digital. Useful information, he explained, because the ports still relying on paper records are far less likely to flag your name or passport number. I asked him to describe the ruses he had used over the years for boarding ships. “Let’s see here,” he responded, his face lighting up as if I’d asked a grandfather to show me photographs of his grandchildren. Most often, he explained, he posed as an interested buyer, a port official, or a charterer. He plied guards with
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