8 replies to this topic

[Hum]

STOCKHOLM — Swedish prosecutors have issued international arrest warrants for two Britons suspected of masterminding a smuggling ring involving over a ton of Chinese garlic.

The men first shipped the garlic to Norway by boat, where it entered the country duty-free since it was considered to be in transit, prosecutor Thomas Ahlstrand said Wednesday. They then drove the approximately 1.2 tons of garlic across the expansive Norwegian-Swedish border, avoiding customs checks and thus Swedish import duties.

Ahlstrand said the men avoided some (EURO)10 million ($13.1 million) in Swedish taxes through the scheme. A lengthy police investigation led to the identification of the two British allegedly behind the Swedish operation, which took place in 2009-2010.

source

[+McKay]

What an odd thing to smuggle.

Is Garlic expensive in Sweden or something?

[theyarecomingforyou]

So basically a couple of guys drove across the border with some garlic in their van so they could avoid import duties? If that's all it takes to be a criminal mastermind these days then that's pretty sad. They're certainly no Blofeld.

[HSoft]

Bit of an alarmist headline. Should really be "Sweden seeks 2 Britons for tax evasion" or something similar.

[Astra.Xtreme]

McKay, on 09 January 2013 - 17:37, said:

What an odd thing to smuggle.

Is Garlic expensive in Sweden or something?

I wondered that too. A pound of garlic costs about $5 at the grocery store here ($10,000 per ton), so they must have smuggled an insane amount of it for them to incur $13 million in taxes they evaded.

[Hum]

Just get a bloodhound and follow the smell.

[aberg]

That's just a small part of a bigger scam, but EU taxes are high for garlic, about 120 Euro / 100 kilo.
By going trough Norway, who's not a EU member and doesn't have taxes on garlic, they try to avoid taxes.

[DocM]

HSoft, on 09 January 2013 - 17:39, said:

Bit of an alarmist headline. Should really be "Sweden seeks 2 Britons for tax evasion" or something similar.

No different than the other forum thread screaming about Swedes who were "renditionsd" (actually extradited) to the US from Africa. So, I guess these giys were renditioned too

[Growled]

Oh that dreaded Chinese garlic.