Never underestimate the olfactory intuition of customs authorities

Customs officials are trained to sniff out potential smugglers and often use canine help to catch really well-wrapped consignments. Therefore, “importers” are usually wary of dealing in anything odoriferous enough to give the game away. That is why the escapade of Murugasan Natarajan, sentenced last month to six years in jail by a British court, is so surprising. Of all the lucrative but odoriferous contraband that he could have opted for, he was caught trying to smuggle in Chinese garlic as ginger. As both make olfactory nerves twitch, the attempt was particularly audacious given that the excessive tonnage could — and did — attract nosy customs inspectors. But Natarajan had smelled an irresistible opportunity given that garlicky food has become very popular in Britain and ginger is exempt from EU levies. However, the £2-million tax dodge set up a stink that the authorities could hardly ignore, particularly since garlic appears to be the new pepper, the spice that was once worth its weight in gold and has been blamed for wars, expeditions and colonial conquests down the millennia. Last June, five Romanians tried to sneak 9.5 tonnes of garlic from Austria to Hungary but the police got wind of their intentions from pungent trucks.

In his defence, Natarajan (who skipped bail and was sentenced in absentia) could have quoted Adam Smith in The Wealth of Na-tions, “The smuggler…is a person who, though no doubt highly blameable for violating the laws of his country, is frequently incapable of violating those of natural justice, and would have been, in every respect, an excellent citizen had not the laws of his country made that a crime which nature never meant to be so.” After all, this free trade mantra has been cited countless times in other contexts, not always as savoury as garlic.