You have got to be shitting me
Jokes aside, this has to be one of the most asine things I have ever seen and that’s saying a shit load:
STOCKHOLM (AP) — Swedish prosecutors have issued international arrest warrants for two Britons suspected of masterminding a smuggling ring involving 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 large shipments of garlic across the Norwegian-Swedish border, avoiding customs checks and thus Swedish import duties.
Ahlstrand said the men avoided paying some €10 million ($13.1 million) in Swedish taxes with the scheme, which took place in 2009 and 2010. A lengthy police investigation led to the identification of the two Britons.
Ahlstrand initially said they smuggled in 1.2 tons of garlic, but later said the exact amount was unclear.
It was not the first time smugglers have shown a preference for garlic from China, which accounts for nearly 80 percent of world output and is often significantly cheaper than local varieties.
In 2010, Polish authorities seized six containers with 144 tons of Chinese garlic that had been smuggled into the country via the Netherlands.
It was not immediately clear whether the Polish smuggling was linked to the Swedish case.
Copyright © 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
If it was fucking Romania I’d at least see a modicum of sense but FUCKING SWEDEN?!?!? I thought Vampires hated the fucking cold? And if they’re in Sweden what the fuck are they sucking on, Tina Nordström, The Swedish Bikini Team or the fucking reindeer?
We’re fucking doomed
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Well now, let us imagine the reaction if those were containers of AK’s and crates of ammunition legally shipped to St. Petersburg Russia duty free then “illegally” driven to France overland for the “youts” in the banelieus? Hmmm. Good thing the Swedes don’t have nukes
I’d take a dozen
10 million in taxes? For fucking garlic? Not dope of any kind, but garlic? Does it occur to anyone in charge over there that if the laws have made it worthwhile to smuggle a normal, everyday spice.. that maybe their shit is fucked up? How exactly does a country justify taxes on non-criminal goods to the point where smuggling becomes a viable option, and makes a 2 year investigation worthwhile financially? For fucking Garlic??
MarineVet1995 @ #:
But its very, verrry good garlic.
This is the paradise they want to install here in the U.S.A!
Let’s see…
You have immigrants flooding into your country faster than the Russian Army pouring over the Seelow Heights in 1945.
Your native women can’t walk down the street in anything less than a burka because if they don’t they’ll be the main attraction at a gang rape
Your socialist welfare state is paying (and collapsing at the same time) said immigrants to sit on their lazy asses and suck you dry all the while preaching cutting off your heads in the name of Allah and Mo (pigs piss and SHIT be upon both of them)
And your worried about garlic???
As stupid as going to such lengths over garlic is, this isn’t really about the garlic.
Nothing animates the greed of bureaucrats like not giving the tax man his piece of the action.
LC Light29ID @ #:
The Swedish government cares as much about garlic as our own does about what folks in Appalachia do with corn, sugar, and water. They don’t give a rat’s ass. They do, however, care a great deal about the potential taxes on both products.
I just did some rough figuring on what I paid for garlic at the store today and if the 1.2 ton figure is right, that is 10 million euros in taxes for what is less than $10000 worth of garlic. It would have to be approx. 1625 tons to make the tax rate 100% of the retail value. I’d smuggle it, too.
This has nothing to do with the noble root, but I wanted to share this with all of you. Walt is a wonderful balladeer, and he often leaves a poem that says it all, over at The Belmont Club.
Tonight, on the beautifully melancholy thread “The Siege of Merimna,” he left this gem in reply to those in despair.
Tallulah @ #:
AWESOME!!!
LC Draco recently posted..The new SOF: Special Operations Fitness
I’ve heard of black markets but this one stinks.
Many similarities to the ascension of Islamofacism in Egypt. Those yearning for freedom in Iran have found no friend in Obama. Remember Neda Agha-Soltan, a victim of shia repression.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…
These evil foreigners (because they’re white Anglo-Saxons most likely, of course they’re evil) are depriving the .gov of its hard-earned taxes. They’re pretty much stealing. Is it not the duty of the state to right wrongs such as these?
Gee … high tariffs on everything cause smuggling of everything.
What a shock …
Now, let’s replace “garlic” with “cigarettes”…
“import duties” with “punitive taxes”…
and “Sweden” with “New York City.”
Suddenly, the reason why 60% of the smokes in pockets and purses throughout Manhattan were acquired on the black market becomes clear.
It’s been a few centuries since European powers fought wars over the Oriental spice trade. Is a comeback in the works?
QUESTION
MISHA, should the FBI come knocking at your door, what protections do we have that we are not “exposed “to them???
Also, Could a lefty like DJ expose US????
Lessee… 1.2 tons is 2400 lbs. For the taxes on that to be €10 million, the taxes would have to be €4166.66… /lb.
!
!!
How the sweet jumpin’ Buddha did they come up with a figure like that?! Did they hire accountants from the RIAA or something? Somebody jumped a decimal point or some shit. Even then (12 tons or €1 million) it doesn’t add up.