Pipped at the customs post
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WHEN it comes to selfprotection the French are hard to beat. A Briton who had been given 36 bottles of German wine in Bavaria was refused permission by customs officials to take them across the border from Belgium to France and had to divert his journey via Zeebrugge and spend another eight hours on the road.
He needed the ex-army Austin lorry used by the Great Train Robbers, which the owner, an Essex motor trader, is putting up for auction at Hadley Hall, West Midlands, later this year. It has a secret compartment in which mail bags of money were hidden and would comfortably accommodate three cases of wine.
Another method of outmanoeuvring customs officials has been discovered by drug smugglers crossing the Pakistan-Iran border. They are supercharging camels with hashish, with the result that the animals are streaking off at up to 30mph and leaving the normally aspirated customs wallahs standing.