Dutch Authorities Intercept Vodka Shipment Bound for North Korea that Violated Sanctions
It looks like there will be a vodka shortage for a little while for the Kim regime elite:
Dutch customs officials at the port of Rotterdam have seized 90,000 bottles of vodka believed to be destined for the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, and his army chiefs.
The discovery, on the eve of Kim’s two-day summit with Donald Trump in Hanoi, was made after Dutch authorities flagged up the suspicious route and records of a Chinese-owned container ship, Nebula.The Russian vodka, contained in 3,000 boxes, had been recorded as being due for unloading in China, via the ports of Hamburg and Rotterdam.
The Guardian
When officers sought to retrieve the container from the ship’s hull, it was found to be concealed and hemmed in by the fuselage of an aircraft also due to be exported to China.
You can read more at the link.
Stupid. Should have just used their shared land border than ship for vodka.
So what. Without consequences violations will continue.
The customs folks here in the Netherlands are top notch. In my jobs here I had contact with them on several occasions, they know their business, I’m not surprised they caught this. But J6 has a point, why didn’t they ship it overland? Side note: the vodka maker saw the huge unusual order, shrugged said “Meh” and shipped it anyway….
If it were me this would have been a bait and decoy operation. This shipment was meant to be found. The real shipment is safely in Norkistan.
Smuggling vodka into North Korea is… an odd concept.
Whiskey, brandy/cognac, tequila, rum? Absolutely.
The ingredients or the process are not easily available in North Korea.
But vodka can be made at home with anything that will ferment and 5000 year old technology.
Industrial quantities of quality vodka can be cheaply produced with North Korea’s level of technology and equipment.
So one has to ask… why?
What’s the real story?