Smuggling is illegal transport, in particular across a border. Taxes are avoided; or the goods themselves are illegal; or people are transported to a place where they are not allowed to be.

Smuggled goods and people

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Illegal drug trafficking, and the smuggling of armaments (gunrunning), as well as the historical staples of smuggling, alcohol and tobacco, are widespread. The profits involved in smuggling goods appears to be extensive. It has been reported that smuggling one truckload of cigarettes within the United States leads to a profit of $2 Million Dollars.^*

With regard to people smuggling we can distinguish a service they desire and for which they pay, and involuntary trafficking of people. An estimated 90% of people who illegally crossed the border between Mexico and the United States are believed to have paid a smuggler to lead them across the border. ^*

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