Illustration: Nico H. Brausch for Bloomberg
Smuggling Is the Latest Temptation for Wealthy US Travelers
From French gowns to Swiss watches, high tariffs have long tempted affluent travelers to sneak goods past customs. Trump’s tariffs could make them try again.
For as long as borders have existed, people have been going to great lengths to smuggle things across them.
An extreme example is the Ontario man who in 2014 taped 51 live turtles to his lap and legs, then drove across the US-Canada border. Caught later by investigators after trying to ship the turtles for sale in China, the 27-year-old admitted his crime in a Michigan federal courtroom, where he was convicted of six counts and ordered to pay more than $17,000 in restitution.