Smuggling

File:Hudiakov Smugglers.jpg

A skirmish with smugglers from Finland at the Russian border, 1853, by Vasily Hudiakov.

Smuggling, or trafficking, is illegal transport, in particular across a border. Taxes are avoided; or the goods themselves are illegal for unlicensed possession; or people are transported to a place where they are not allowed to be.

Etymology

The word probably comes from the Common Germanic verb smeugan (Old Norse smjúga) = "to creep into a hole." Other sources say it comes from the Middle Dutch verb smokkelen.

History

Smuggling has a long and controversial history, probably dating back to the first time at which duties were imposed in any form.

In Britain, smuggling became economically significant at the end of the 18th century, although of course it was carried out to a greater or lesser extent prior to this high-water mark. The high rates of duty levied on wine and spirits, and other luxury goods coming in from mainland Europe at this time made the clandestine import of such goods and the evasion of the duty a highly profitable venture for impoverished fishermen and seafarers. In certain parts of the country such as the Romney Marsh, East Kent, Cornwall and East Cleveland, the smuggling industry was for many communities more economically significant than legal activities such as farming and fishing. The principal reason for the high duty was the need for the government to finance a number of extremely expensive wars with France and the United States of America.

Lately, as many first-world countries have struggled to contain a rising influx of immigrants, the smuggling of people across national borders has become a lucrative extra-legal activity, as well as the extremely dark side, people-trafficking, especially of women who may be enslaved typically as prostitutes.

Types of Smuggling

People

With regard to people smuggling, a distinction can be made between people smuggling as a service to those wanting to illegally migrate and the involuntary trafficking of people. An estimated 90% of people who illegally crossed the border between Mexico and the United States are believed to have paid a smuggler to lead them across the border.

Trafficking in human beings, sometimes called human trafficking, or sex trafficking (as the majority of victims are women or children forced into prostitution) is not the same as people smuggling. A smuggler will facilitate illegal entry into a country for a fee, but on arrival at their destination, the smuggled person is free; the trafficking victim is enslaved. Victims do not agree to be trafficked: they are tricked, lured by false promises, or forced into it. Traffickers use coercive tactics including deception, fraud, intimidation, isolation, threat and use of physical force, debt bondage or even force-feeding with drugs to control their victims. Whilst the majority of victims are women, and sometimes children, forced into prostitution, other victims include men, women and children forced into manual labor.

Due to the illegal nature of trafficking, the exact extent is unknown. A US Government report published in 2003, estimates that 800,000-900,000 people worldwide are trafficked across borders each year.This figure does not include those who are trafficked internally.

Goods

Illegal drug trafficking, and the smuggling of armaments (gunrunning), as well as the historical staples of smuggling, alcohol and tobacco, are widespread. The profits involved in smuggling goods appears to be extensive. It has been reported that smuggling one truckload of cigarettes within the United States leads to a profit of $2 Million Dollars.

One can distinguish concealment of the whole transport or concealment of just the smuggled goods:

• Avoiding border checks, such as by small ships, private airplanes, through overland smuggling routes and smuggling tunnels. This also applies for illegally passing a border oneself, for illegal immigration or illegal emigration. In many parts of the world, particularly the Gulf of Mexico, the smuggling vessel of choice is the go-fast boat.
• Submitting to border checks with the goods or people hidden in a vehicle or between (other) merchandise, or the goods hidden in lugguage, in or under cloths, inside the body (see body cavity search and balloon swallower), etc. Many smugglers fly on regularly scheduled airlines. A large number of suspected smugglers are caught each year by airport police worldwide. Goods and people are also smuggled across seas hidden in containers, and overland hidden in cars, trucks, and trains. The high level of duty levied on alcohol and tobacco in Britain has led to large-scale smuggling from France to the UK through the Channel Tunnel.

A mule or courier is someone who smuggles something with him or her (as opposed to sending by mail, etc.) across a national border, including smuggling into and out of an international plane, especially a small amount, transported for a smuggling organization. The organizers employ mules to reduce the risk of getting caught themselves, while often profiting most. The mule typically gets paid an amount which is small compared with the profit, but large for somebody with little money, so that it seems to him or her an easy way to make money. Sometimes the goods are hidden in e.g. the bag or vehicle of an innocent person, who does not know about this, for the purpose of retrieving the goods elsewhere. In the case of transporting illegal drugs, the term drug mule applies.

Other methods of smuggling include hiding the goods in a vehicle, luggage or clothes, strapping them to one's body, or using the body as container.

The latter is mainly applied for heroin and cocaine, and sometimes for ecstasy. It is often done by swallowing latex balloons (often condoms, or fingers of latex gloves) or special pellets filled with the goods, and recovering them from the feces later (such a smuggler is called a 'swallower' or 'internal carrier'; the practice is also called 'body packing' or 'body stuffing'). It is a common, but medically dangerous way of smuggling small amounts of drugs: a mule may well die when a packet bursts or leaks. With regard to traffic from South America to the US, the US Drug Enforcement Administration reports: "Unlike cocaine, heroin is often smuggled by people who swallow large numbers of small capsules (50-90), allowing them to transport up to 1.5 kilograms of heroin per courier. However, elsewhere cocaine is smuggled this way.

People are sometimes X-rayed at airports etc. to check for drug pellets.

In 2003, statistics confirmed that over 50% of foreign females in UK jails were drug mules from Jamaica. Nigerian women also make a large contribution to the remaining figure. In all, around 18% of the UK's female jail population are foreigners. 60% of which are serving sentences for drug related offences - most of them drug mules.

Smuggling tunnels

Smuggling tunnels are secret tunnels, usually hidden underground, used for smuggling of goods and people.

Smuggling tunnel in Sarajevo, Bosnia

During the Siege of Sarajevo a tunnel underneath the no-man's land of the city's (closed) airport provided a vital smuggling link for the beleaguered city residents. Guns were smuggled into the city and (at what critics said were exploitively high rates) people were smuggled out.

It features in the British film "Welcome to Sarajevo" and the dark Serbian satire of conflict "Underground."

Smuggling tunnels in Rafah, Gaza Strip

Smuggling tunnels connect Egypt and the Gaza Strip, bypassing the international border established by the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty. The tunnels pass under the "Philadelphi buffer zone" (also called "Philadelphi Route" ציר פילדלפי in Hebrew)—an area given to Israeli military control in the Oslo accords in order to secure the border with Egypt. The tunnels connect the Egyptian town of Rafah with the Palestinian refugee camp of Rafah. These tunnels are used to smuggle people, mostly militants escaping from Israeli responses to their actions, and a wide variety of items, including food, clothes, cigarettes, alcohol, and vehicle parts. With the beginning of the al-Aqsa Intifada, the tunnels were used mainly for smuggling of weapons and explosives used by Palestinian militants.

Rafah is located on the borderline of the Gaza Strip and Egypt. As a result of this geographical location, it accommodated tunnels and has a history of smuggling. These tunnels were and are mainly used by Palestinian terrorist organisations for weapon smuggling, and bringing cheap goods from Egypt into the Gaza Strip.

The tunnels are normally dug by individuals from basements of houses or an olive grove under the border at depths of up to 15 meters (49 feet), reaching up to 800 meters (2640 feet) in length. In few cases, the owners of the houses might receive a portion of the profits from the smuggling and maybe some sort of financial compensation from those in charge of the tunnel building if the tunnel is discovered and the house destroyed.

The American smuggling tunnels

The long land borders of the United States have always attracted drug smugglers, and countless tunnels have been built.

Due to the country's restrictive policy on immigration in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, and heightened security, many more secret tunnels were built to enter the country from Mexico, most running between Tijuana on the Mexican side and San Diego, California on the American side. The prevalent use is drug smuggling, but many other operations have been discovered. About 35 such tunnels have been uncovered.

In early 2005, a group of Canadian drug-smugglers took up the idea, and constructed a tunnel between a greenhouse in Langley, British Columbia and the basement of a house in Lynden, Washington. They bought the two properties and began construction work. Authorities were alerted when a neighbour noticed the large-scale construction work being undertaken in the greenhouse. On inspection, it was apparent that tons of construction material was entering, and piles of dirt were coming out. It became known within a short time by both American and Canadian border authorities that a tunnel was being built. Video and audio devices were installed secretly by customs officials both at the termini and in the tunnel itself. On July 14, the tunnel having been completed, the first packs of marijuana began going through. Officials raided the home soon after and arrested the three men. They then appeared before court in Seattle.

In late January, 2006, the largest smuggling tunnel to date was found on the US-Mexico border. The 2400-foot-long tunnel runs from a warehouse near the Tijuana airport to a warehouse in San Diego. When discovered, it was devoid of people, but it did contain 2 tons of marijuana. It was 5 feet high and up to 90 feet deep. The floor was made of cement and the walls were dried dirt, with lights lining one side and a ventilation system to keep fresh air circulating. Authorities said it was unclear how long the tunnel had been in operation. On January 30, U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents arrested a Mexican Citizen, who was linked to the tunnel via the U.S. warehouse, operated by V&F Distributors LLC. On the Friday before, January 27, immigration authorities reportedly received information that the Mexican cartel behind the operation was threatening the lives of any agents involved with the construction or occupation of the tunnel. US Customs and Immigration, however, pledged to protect them as best they can. Authorities suspect Tijuana's Arellano-Felix drug syndicate, or some other well-known cartel, is behind the tunnel and its operations.

The Underground Railroad

The Underground Railroad was a collective name for the overland routes taken by escaped slaves seeking emancipation in the free states of the Northern United States and Canada.

External links

• Smuggling in 18th and 19th century Britain
• Smuggled Goods and Products information
• King's Cutters and Smugglers 1700-1855, by E. Keble Chatterton, from Project Gutenberg
• Smuggling on Romney Marsh, England
• 2006 news item on swallowers
• "Drug smuggling by body packing: what radiologists should know about it." (abstract)
• The cocaine 'body-packer' syndrome: Diagnosis and treatment
• Fatal Heroin Intoxication in Body Packers in Northern Thailand during the Last Decade: Two Case Reports
• Child body packing
• Profits drive smuggling in Rafah
• Exposure of Smuggling Tunnels: A Chronology
• "Light at the end of the tunnel" - Maariv writes up over the battles between the IDF, Palestinian terrorists and the residents of Rafah over the smuggling tunnels.
• In pictures: Searching for Gaza's tunnels
• Razing Rafah Human Rights Watch report on use of tunnels as pretext for mass home demolitions
• Secret U.S.-Mexican Border Tunnel (article with text, picture of tunnel, and map)

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