Tobacco.org

• Smuggling cigarettes in Schengen Poland 

I’m standing on the crooked pavement of the square in front of the tatty Terespol railway station. Belarus is only a few kilometers east from here. Against the gloomy backdrop of the townlet buildings a new, nicely smelling white board stands out, complete with the Polish and European Union flags. Soon I’ll know that it is the only wordly feature of this town which has found itself on the way to economic collapse. The Saturday morning silence is broken only by the whistle of the train leaving for Brest and the barking of a homeless mongrel. What’s it like to live here? I ask myself, going 'downtown'. . . .

''The prices have gone up as the customs officers are more difficult to bribe' - smugglers

'Rubbish!' responds assistant superintendent Cezary Grochowski, the spokesperson for the Municipal Police Department in Biała Podlaska, to the boys’ allegations. 'The policemen and border guards go out of their way to dispose of the smugglers, once and for all.' He does admit, however, that individual cases still crop up, but, in his opinion, the times of smuggling are over. . . .

Lean years on the eastern partition had begun long before Poland became part of the Schengen zone. Since the introduction of the Russian embargo on Polish meat, more and more meat plants have collapsed like a house of cards. Both legal and illegal trade with Belarus had flourished until 21 December 2007, so it was possible to make up for the losses. Today, Terespol citizens are fearful of what the future may bring.

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