CREATIVE SMUGGLING
Harpers, a wine and spirits magazine in the UK, reports that border agents in Kyrgyzstan recently discovered an eight inch pipeline for smuggling vodka from neighboring Kazakhstan. The pipeline ran for about a third of a mile under the Chu River depositing who knows how many thousands of liters of illicit alcohol in Kyrgyzstan where there is a demand for cheap liquor.
According to Harpers, this is not the first time a liquor pipeline has been discovered. In 2009, customs officers in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, seized 1,159 liters of vodka smuggled in from Russia.
ANOTHER VODKA MYSTERY
This time it is the BBC reporting that an unlicensed vodka vending machine suddenly appeared in the town center of Melitopol, a city in Ukraine. The converted coffee machine dispensed a shot of vodka for about $1 US. It also dispensed a variety of juice mixers.
The Ukrainian taxmen were not amused and at last report, they were looking for the owners. An estimated 35% of all vodka sold last year in Ukraine was illegal.
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