Meatleggers!

It sounds like something from a Monty Python sketch, but apparently it's really happening, according to this news story from Norway's Aftenposten: Meat smuggling breaks record

Police are seizing more smuggled meat than ever before, and border patrols suspect organized smuggling gangs that are supplying a market keen on dodging Norway's high meat prices.

Customs authorities have seized 34 tons of meat smuggled into Norway so far this year. That's three times the amount seized in the same period last year.

There were a couple of other related articles on Aftenposten's English language site: Study confirms high prices, which notes that Norway's meat prices are 82% higher than the average price in Europe, and Irritation grows over taxes, which notes that Norwegians are among the most heavily taxed people in the world, which of course makes the prices of all commodities higher.

Invariably, wherever there is a high differential in prices between one area and another nearby due to differences in taxation, there will be smugglers looking to make a profit by buying the commodity in a low-tax area and smuggling it into a high-tax area. One example is when tobacco smugglers in the United States buy cigarettes in a low-tax state like North Carolina and then sell them in a high-tax state like New York. A truckload of cigarettes can make a big profit for the smugglers. In this case, it's meat being smuggled from Sweden into Norway.

Note that the truck shown doesn't appear to be a refrigerated truck. I know it's always kind of chilly in Scandinavia, but wouldn't you be a bit worried about the meat spoiling before it got to market?

Customs inspector: [sniffs] I smell something! Are you smuggling meat?

Driver: No, no, that's just Sven. He hasn't bathed for a couple of days. He always smells like that...

Customs inspector: Oh, okay then. Drive on!