SPAIN/GIBRALTAR Whether it is by coincidence, or because of 'la crisis' or, indeed as a result of the cooperation always being promised by the Tripartite Forum talks is anyone's guess, but there seems to be a concerted effort recently to clamp down on the traditional smuggling of tobacco from Gibraltar (we first announced it in February). A shopkeeper on the Rock was arrested just the other day for selling more cigarrettes than allowed when the Royal Gibraltar Police swooped down on his van as he was loading cartons into another vehicle in a car park on the Rock (you are 'only' allowed to buy 2000 cigarretes unless you have a license for more, so presumably you're not allowed to sell that amount, either). The RGP has also>been trying to deal with the matuteras (women who hide packets on their person to cross the border - men, in increasing numbers, would be matuteros) at the border, and, according to reports from cross-border workers, the Guardia Civil is also checking more vehicles at the frontier. In the meantime, there are media reports on large hauls not only of tobacco but also of drugs being caught on the Spanish side in the Campo de Gibraltar and well beyond. Are the two sides of the 'perceived conflict' working together? It would be great if it were so.
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