Increased enforcement by Fuerza Publica earlier this week near our border with Panama has yielded a few instances of “contrabando horminga” (small-time smuggling) of tires and liquor.

It is customary for Fuerza Publica to look out for smugglers around this time of the year. The increased enforcement takes place at Paso Canoas and the border cantons of Corredores, Coto Brus and Golfito.

In the Aguabuena community of Coto Brus, officers intercepted a truck carrying both liquor and auto tires that was heading to San Vito.

As Easter Week approaches and Ticos brace for the customary Ley Seca (dry laws), when liquor sales are suspended by law or custom, opportunistic would-be entrepreneurs prepare to make a quick profit with underground sales of alcoholic beverages. They either stockpile on liquor previous to Easter Week, or maximize their profits by crossing over our southern border into Panama and returning with a few bottles of whiskey, rum, vodka, gin, and other boozy products.

Liquor, along with a multitude of other goods in Panama, is very inexpensive when compared to Costa Rica. Entrepreneurs who operate in the shadow economy often make trips to Panama to purchase goods that can be smuggled across the border without paying excessive import taxes or having to bother with customs inspections.

Not everyone applauds these anti-smuggling efforts. Comments left on the Facebook home of Fuerza Publica indicate that some people in Costa Rica think that officers should not bother with small-time smugglers, as a few of them are working-class people who engage in the activity to supplement their low incomes.

Fuerza Publica maintains that most of the smugglers they encounter are only the tip of the iceberg, since they form part of large smuggling rings that supply Tico retailers. Smuggled goods avoid payment of import and sales taxes, a practice that the government is trying to stop.