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A chewing-gum base from the U.S. entered Germany recently falsely labeled "raw gutta-percha"—a duty-free item. Hard-to-recognize electronic devices are classified as items simpler and cheaper; high-grade steel is listed as low-grade. "Many goods are thoroughly packed," says a badgered customs man, "and with great amounts coming through, we can't unpack everything."
But Cologne's sleuths are using scientific methods to keep the smugglers on the defensive. They recently caught an importer who was shipping in great quantities of honey labeled as Common Market produce. Cologne's labs made chemical tests of the honey, proved that the pollen from which it was drawn belonged to flowers that were native only to South America.