Bees Brought In Honey For Smuggler

Taranaki Daily News, 29 October 1945, Page 3

Bees Brought In Honey For Smuggler

London, Oct. 22. After the collapse of Italy, smuggling into Switzerland greatly increased. Wellorganised gangs transported across the Alps consignments of rice, raw silk, and other products, which they usually exchanged for tobacco. A priest in a Swiss village close to the frontier tells the. story of a Swiss trader who once obtained from Italy an excellent honey, which he sold at a substantial profit. When the export of Italian honey was prohibited last year the trader hit upon an idea which proved very successful. He managed to send a message to his Italian purveyor, summoning him to the border. There, throUgh the barbed wire, he instructed him to bring his pots of honey and leave them open at the edge of the forest. He undertook to do the rest himself. While the Italian purveyor was carrying out the instructions, the Swiss trader moved his beehives to the other side of the valley, about 1000 yards from the place where the pots of honey stood. Within three days the Swiss bees had brought back some 2001b of Italian honey into Switzerland, in spite of the Italian ban and the Swiss Customs officials. 9