HÅN, Sweden — Scandinavia has a lesson for British customs officials ahead of Brexit: policing the European Union’s outer limits can be hard work.

Norway has the closest possible trading relationship with the EU without actually being part of the bloc, but its border with Sweden is still a haven for smugglers that requires an alert and nimble border force. And there were 229,286 checks on vehicles crossing in 2016, up slightly on the previous two years.

That suggests, among other things, that the U.K.'s vision of a frictionless (and invisible) Northern Irish border will be difficult to achieve.

'Don't build small border post'

On a recent weekday, Roger Nilsson, a 30-year veteran of Sweden’s border force, surveyed the battered cars outside his offices: a Lithuanian-registered saloon missing a fender, a dusty Audi A8 with a pair of sunglasses still on the dashboard; a battered van caked in mud.

These vehicles carried some of the smugglers caught by Nilsson and his team on the main roads and dusty tracks leading through the forested Swedish county of Värmland to the Norwegian border, less than a kilometer away.

The van’s suspension had been reinforced with extra springs to disguise its heavy load: around 1,000 liters of alcohol destined for Norway’s black market.

Norway can choose to impose higher tariffs on some goods, including alcohol and cigarettes. And it has.

“My advice to the U.K. when they leave the EU is: Don’t build the border station too small, you need plenty of space,” he said.

The bootleggers are in this part of Sweden to exploit differences in policy between Norway on the outside of the EU and the 28 countries, including Sweden, on the inside.

Their presence is an example of the challenges the U.K. will face as it leaves the bloc in 2019 and sets up a new — as yet undefined — border regime with its neighbors.

Criminal opportunity

Within the EU, citizens can load up as much alcohol as their vehicles can safely carry and legally drive it over internal borders, as long as they can credibly claim it is for private consumption.

Importing alcohol into Norway is a different matter. As an EU outsider — but part of the single market — Norway can choose to impose higher tariffs on some goods, including alcohol and cigarettes. And it has.

The sale of alcohol inside Norway is heavily taxed and the state has complemented this policy with high import duties. A quota of roughly a bottle of spirits, four bottles of wine and six cans of beer is allowed, but importing an extra 600 Norwegian kroner (€65) case of wine would end up costing 1,938.83 kroner (€209) after fees, according to the customs office.

This kind of freedom to write your own rules is what attracted many Brits to Brexit. But Norway’s decision to go its own way has also created a business opportunity for criminals, both local and from as far away as Poland, the Baltics and Germany.

“It's about money of course,” said Gro-Lene Gundelsby, who runs the border post at Ørje across the Norwegian border from Hån. “People are making their living out of this.”

The smugglers are often organized gangs with connections to Eastern Europe, according to official reports, commonly with members who base themselves near the border. From there they can keep an eye on the patrols and update fellow gang members approaching the border.

Norwegian customs seized 322,000 liters of beer in the first half of this year and 47,000 liters of spirits. But this is believed to be only a small part of the total crossing the border. A bust on September 3 seized 14,000 litres of alcohol from just one Polish-registered truck.

'Smugglers' charter'

Norway, a country of 5 million people, has a 1,630-kilometer land border with Sweden. Its people chose not to join the EU at a referendum in 1994, after concern spread that doing so would cost the country control over its productive fishing grounds.

Sweden joined in 1995, bringing the edge of the EU to Värmland and dividing two countries that were united under one head of state until 1905.

The complexity of the EU’s outer border running between neighbors with close ties will soon be echoed on the island of Ireland, where U.K.-governed Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland meet.

Questions are now being asked about what form the border should take, and what the various options would mean for business, political security and smuggling.

The debate over a way forward flickered into life in mid-August when the U.K. presented a paper on the issue and said it wanted not only to avoid border checks, but also to rule out any border infrastructure at all — for fear it would become a target for dissident republicans.

While everyone agrees on the sensitivity of the border arrangements, the details of the U.K. plans have come under attack.

Some say they would contradict Britain’s goal of limiting the flow of people and goods into and out of the U.K., which was for many a key motivation for voting Leave. Others worry the plans would facilitate illegal trade over the border.

One lesson from Norway is that even with the Nordic country's close ties to the bloc, border checks are necessary.

“A smugglers’ charter on this island being proposed by the Brexiteers,” Irish senator Mark Daly tweeted August 16.

Norway has had a border cooperation agreement with Sweden since 1959 and with the EU since 1997, said Jørgen Næsje, a senior official at the finance ministry, which has oversight of the customs service.

“The agreement aims to ensure efficient border control and a so-called one-stop shop, allowing traffic coming into either country to be checked only once,” he said. “At the same time, both countries are allowed to check goods on the neighboring territory, if for instance smuggling is suspected.”

Red tape

Norway is part of what is known as the European Economic Area, which means it abides by many of the EU’s rules, including allowing the free movement of people, goods, capital and services, in exchange for access to the internal market. It also contributes funds to the bloc.

This arrangement has been suggested as a model for the U.K., either in the long term or during a transition period immediately post Brexit. But U.K. Brexit Secretary David Davis has discounted both in favor of bespoke access to the single market, which he hopes to negotiate with the EU.

But one lesson from Norway is that even with the Nordic country's close ties to the bloc, border checks are necessary. Cars entering Norway at Ørje are stopped and drivers asked for their destination and the purpose of their visit. The border post was recently extended and rebuilt with new barriers and cameras. Staffing has also been increased.

Norway’s center-right government, reelected September 11, has focused on tougher border controls since the European migration crisis of 2015, when around 30,000 asylum seekers entered the country.

The road leading up to the border stations can often be backed up with a dozen trucks waiting to have their papers stamped.

In a report earlier this year based on a survey of 2,000 Swedish companies, the Swedish National Board of Trade said respondents identified customs as the main problem hampering trade with Norway.

“The rules are seen as bureaucratic and the demand for documentation creates a lot of paperwork,” the report said.

Every truck that passes the Norwegian frontier with goods must submit papers for inspection and many hauliers employ the services of specialist companies, which prepare the documentation. Their offices dot the border on both sides.

“The drivers don’t usually spend long in the customs office itself,” Nilsson said. “But on busy afternoons they can be parked in queues on the road for hours waiting for their turn,” he said.

Loaded trucks cannot take one of the smaller roads without controls but border posts field regular calls from concerned villagers saying they have seen trucks off the designated routes.

Chasing down these leads is part of the daily routine for Nilsson and his team at Hån, as are regular sessions on the gym machines they’ve installed in the first-floor corridor.

“You’ve got to stay in shape,” he said. “When the smugglers ditch their vehicles, we have to chase them on foot.”