Posted on 11/20/2009 3:24:06 PM PST by NormsRevenge
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Swedish police have arrested two North Korean diplomats on suspicion of smuggling 230,000 cigarettes into the Nordic country, the Swedish Customs Office said Friday.
The pair, a man and a woman who have diplomatic status in Russia, were stopped by Swedish customs officers Wednesday morning as they drove off a ferry from Helsinki, the Finnish capital.
Customs officials discovered Russian cigarettes in the car driven by the couple, Swedish Customs spokeswoman Monica Magnusson told Reuters.
The two North Koreans claimed diplomatic immunity.
"They were accredited as diplomats in Russia, but had no accreditation in Sweden," she said. "They were arrested on suspicion of smuggling."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
If we would just legalize tobacco all this smuggling would end.
When I was a youngster and worked in an Ohio auto plant in the 60s, the parking lot always had guys selling trunkfulls of low tax Kentucky sourced cigarettes.
And that was for just a few pennies difference per pack.
Worst habit I’ve ever seen.
Many years ago, my Dad used to run booze and cigarettes from DC to his home factory in NJ for the gang. Sold it all at cost.
When I was stationed at our embassy in Helsinki in the mid-seventies, the North Korean diplomats were caught selling duty free alcohol to the Finns. The fact is that they must raise money somehow to fund the operating costs of their mission. It looks like it is still going on to this very day.
Must have been a big car....1,150 cartons of cigarettes...probably not a KIA.
I love how these articles list each individual cigarette - 230,000!!!!!!Cigarettes!!!! That’s HUGE and sensational.
Cigarettes are discusting but not FREE! WHERE DID THEY GET THAT MUCH MONEY?
Take out all the taxes associated with cigarettes and the 1,000 or so cartons of cigs probably are worth around 5K before retail (black market or otherwise)
It’s only plant vegetation with paper wrapped around it.....
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