Illegal meat trade sparks health fears

Part of a consignment of smuggled meat seized in Basel last year. Customs Office

Customs officers say high meat prices in Switzerland are fuelling a lucrative cross-border smuggling trade which poses a danger to public health.

The authorities, who have intercepted five metric tons of smuggled meat in the past 18 months, say the racket is increasingly being run by organised gangs.

Since the introduction of import quotas a decade ago, the Federal Customs Office says it has seen an upsurge in the amount of meat smuggled into Switzerland from neighbouring countries, where prices are up to 50 per cent cheaper.

And it is not simply a question of a few sausages slipped under the front seat. Smuggling operations are often professionally run and involve shipments worth tens of thousands of francs.

According to Serge Gumy, head of criminal investigations at the Federal Customs Office, a combination of high meat prices, stiff customs duty, increased traffic and relaxing of border checks have created “a big risk of fraud” in Switzerland.

“There is an enormous market here for smuggled meat, and it’s principally down to the price difference between Switzerland and abroad,” he told swissinfo. A kilo of beef filet costs around SFr70 ($57) in Switzerland.

“You only have to look at the number of big cases we are dealing with to see how much things have increased in recent years.”

Massive fraud

In one of the biggest cases, which is still going through the courts, customs officers exposed a 20-strong trafficking network responsible for the illegal import of 600 metric tons of beef, pork and horsemeat over a two-year period. The unpaid duty amounted to around SFr12.5 million ($10.2 million).

Fines totalling SFr900,000 have already been handed out and prosecutors are seeking a one-year prison sentence for the ringleaders.

The meat, which was mainly of South American origin, was bought in Belgium and France and stashed in a hidden compartment on an articulated lorry. On arrival in Switzerland, the contraband was sold to butchers and restaurants.

In another case in 2003, investigators smashed a smuggling operation in Basel involving around ten metric tons of beef, veal and pork worth SFr400,000. The meat was sold to restaurants in Zurich and Basel.

And it is not just butchered meat that is coming to light. The racket also extends to livestock such as piglets and horses.

Health risks

But it is not simply a question of financial fraud; there is also the issue of health risks to consider.

The Customs Office says much of the smuggled meat is transported in poor hygienic conditions. Most of the time there is no accompanying health and safety certificate, and the meat is unrefrigerated.

The Federal Veterinary Office, which checks and authorises meat entering Switzerland, says smuggled meat poses a serious risk to the health of animals and humans.

Spokesman Marcel Falk said smugglers tended to have little expertise in handling meat that was often already decaying by the time it arrived in Switzerland. This raised the possibility of consignments being riddled with bacteria such as salmonella or campylobacter.

“There is also the risk of infecting animals with highly transmissible diseases,” added Falk. “If you have an outbreak of foot and mouth, swine fever or avian flu, the consequences would be dramatic in terms of animal suffering and economic losses.”

Avoiding detection

Attracted by the prospect of big profits, smugglers are becoming ever more ingenious in their methods to avoid detection.

In the Basel case, regular shipments of 300kg of unrefrigerated meat were brought across the Swiss-German border in a car whose suspension had been adapted so as not to arouse suspicion.

In another case in eastern Switzerland a delivery truck was disguised as a camper van to carry 47.5 metric tons of meat over from Austria.

To combat the increase in trafficking, the Customs Office underwent a reorganisation seven years ago to place more onus on intelligence gathering and analysis.

With around 21,000 trucks crossing into Switzerland each day and 1,882km of frontier to patrol, the country’s 4,500 customs officers have had to develop a more targeted response.

Now each investigation section has a special unit whose job is to collect and sift through all the information coming in from phone tip-offs, emails, letters, police, government agencies, cantons and abroad.

Intelligence work

“We can’t control every lorry and people know it. We use intelligence to work out at what time and at which place it’s easier to cross,” said Gumy.

“The other thing that has changed is the complexity of investigations. In the past it was easier to get the information we needed,” he added.

“But now they [the smugglers] destroy receipts and don’t leave a paper trail. They are also well aware of their legal rights and make use of lawyers. It’s become a game of cat and mouse.”

As a result, bringing the Mr Bigs of the meat-smuggling world to justice has become a lot harder.

“It’s like any organised-crime network. You think you have worked out the hierarchy but you don’t know what level you have reached on the ladder because people say nothing,” said Gumy.

swissinfo, Adam Beaumont

Key facts

Import regulations:
Each person can bring in 500g of fresh meat duty free.
An individual can import a maximum of 20kg of fresh meat on which they have to pay duty of up to SFr23 a kilo.
Licences to import more than 20kg are issued by the Federal Agriculture Office.
Large shipments also need a certificate from the Federal Veterinary Office.

In brief

Fines for those caught at the border are hefty, amounting to 20 times the duty that should have been paid.

If there are aggravating circumstances, such as a previous history of smuggling, the fine rises to 30 times the duty and a possible prison sentence of up to six months.

Anyone involved in the operation from those buying the illegal meat or reselling meat can be fined.