## Important Update ## Baccy Mini-Cruise 15th Oct

UKBA Deck 5 Pride of Bruges 1st Oct 2011

One of our friends on Facebook has just returned from Zeebrugge to Hull on P&O Ferries. He has informed us that according to some of the crew on the P&O ferry, the UKBA intend to blitz the route from Oct 1st when the new guidelines of 1kg tobacco and 800 cigarettes come in.This blitz will supposedly continue for the whole month.

This will be bad news for the legitimate cross-border shopper who is unprepared for the tactics they will face if stopped by the UKBA.

The UKBA hype will tell you that they are targeting smugglers but  this is a complete fallacy. Mr Smuggler is already exceeding the guidelines that are in place now of 3kg tobacco and 3200 cigarettes so these new lower guidelines will mean what to him? Errr, he's exceeding the guidelines ... duh!

Mr Smuggler is also prepared to lose shipments, it's part and parcel of his business. Not for him is the interview interrogation. He (or his underlings) will leave the goods  and just walk away when UKBA say "You are not under arrest and can leave at anytime". Mr Smuggler wants as little contact with the UKBA as possible. He'll be back tomorrow or the next day/week ... he remains in profit.

However if an unprepared, trusting legitimate shopper gets stopped by the UKBA, the odds are they will lose their goods because they said the wrong thing in the interrogation ... and be out of pocket ... and be condemned as a smuggler. This suits the UKBA because they can then crow about all the smugglers they've intercepted because they know that virtually none of their victims will appeal against the seizure. Job done!

ln the meantime, Mr Smuggler will have a load more new customers ... all these legitimate cross-border shoppers who are now too frightened to shop abroad for their tobacco/cigarettes.

UKBA kid themselves they've won, Mr Smuggler on the other hand has definitely won.

So, to all those coming on the mini-cruise ... please be prepared, We, ourselves, are very happy that UKBA could be planning to be there in force. lt's exactly what we want and look forward to ... we have some plans of our own. Maybe some of you intend to make a statement yourselves or maybe you are there just for the jolly .... we don't know. All of you have booked independently and have no links to us so you can decide yourself how to proceed. We are not asking you to do what we do ... you can just be sightseers if you wish, it's totally up to you.

Join us onboard where we'll have a drink or two or three whilst we all share our thoughts, experiences and knowledge. Looking forward to it immensely.

Anyone else wishing to join us can still book as tickets are still available.

See you onboard!