Camera phone smuggling rife in Saudi Arabia - NOV 14, 2004

Smuggler's Blues:

Did you know that camera phone smuggling was a serious problem for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia?

Cattle smuggling troubles Mozambique.

North Korea has to worry about radio smugglers.

Smuggling is also a problem for Iran and Azerbaijan. There's no word on what kind of smuggling is problem, however. It would be fascinating to know what either one has that the other one doesn't want coming in. Whatever it is, it's a serious problem: Al Jazeera cites a panel of Iranian economists, who cite smuggling as one of several critical threats to what remains of Iran's economy.

It could be, in part, archaeological treasures. Here's a fascinating report on "underwater archaeology" that treats several ancient cities sunken off the coast of Iran.

And, of course, there's this from down Mexico way. Nothing funny about that link.