Spanish 'picaresca' as applied to tobacco smuggling

(Photo: Guardia Civil)

SAN ROQUE (Agencies) The crisis has reached proportions locally that lead one to suspect this is part of a 15th century novel of the Spanish Picaresque, as it's called in English, but can be translated to Spanish wiliness. A regular patrol in Campamento stopped a car the other day in a routine inspection aimed at preventing contraband from Gibraltar. Bingo. They found 14 cartons without the legal seal. Contraband. But the smell wasn't right. They didn't smell like tobacco. Or drugs. Closer observation revealed that the cartons were open. Looking further inside, they found that the packets had all been opened, too. And lo, they were full of sawdust. From a suspected smuggler, the driver had become the victim of an apparent swindle. One or both of two things might be true: that a much larger cargo of smuggled tobacco was passed through the checkpoint while the officers were busy; or, they were taken for a ride while trying to earn a fast buck - or even that they were acting for someone else. However, the Guardia do warn of the following: although tobacco as such was not found, there is still the intent of selling on what was thought to be contraband. So there is intent to commit a crime, no matter whether they had smuggled it out themselves, or whether they were working for a third party.