Teenagers in Northern Ireland have said they are pinning their hopes on a no-deal Brexit so they can profit from smuggling everyday household items across the border.

The only land boundary between the EU and the UK is a major sticking point for politicians currently in a Brexit deadlock over Theresa May’s backstop to keep the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland open.

Both sides committed to avoiding the return of a ‘hard border’ – including physical checks – after Brexit but in January, the European Commission said it is ‘obvious’ there will be a hard border if the UK leaves with no-deal.

There are currently no checks on the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland (Picture: AFP)

Metro.co.uk spoke to teenagers whose families have lived on the border for generations and who say they are planning on turning a negative into a positive on the black market.




One, 19, from Northern Ireland, said: ‘Northern Ireland did not vote for Brexit, but we got it anyway.

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‘So we might as well make the best out of a bad situation and smuggling is my plan.

‘That the British Government were happy to risk peace in Northern Ireland for Brexit will never be forgotten over here so it will be near enough a patriotic duty to fiddle the system.’

He said he will travel across the border to sell goods on both sides – whichever have the biggest mark-up or tariff between the EU and Brexit Britain and are therefore in demand.

The NI border follows six counties Antrim, Armagh, Down, Fermanagh, Londonderry and Tyrone. (Picture: E+)

The Irish border was established in 1921 during the partition and is 310 miles long. Since 1923 free passage of people has been allowed between both countries and in 1993 free movement of goods. There are 270 roads which cross the divide.

During The Troubles, between the early 1970s and 1990s, British Army military checkpoints were a familiar sight on crossings and smaller roads were blocked.

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After the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 the British Army withdrew and the border roads began to reopen. Ireland is determined not to return to a hard border.

At present, goods and services are traded between the two jurisdictions on the island of Ireland with few restrictions.

The UK and Ireland are currently part of the EU single market and customs union, so products do not need to be inspected for customs and standards.

But, after Brexit, all that could change – the two parts of Ireland could be in different customs and regulatory regimes, which could mean products being checked at the border.

The Prime Minister included the ‘Irish backstop’ arrangement to avoid a hard border in a no-deal Brexit but some Brexiteer MPs say the only way she will get her deal through Parliament is if the backstop is binned.

The border crossing in Newry, Northern Ireland (Picture: Getty)

A former customs guard hut on the Irish border in Newry, Northern Ireland. (Picture: Getty)

The teenager told Metro.co.uk: ‘Some members of my family were in the IRA, they used the land and their knowledge to further the struggle, and move weapons across the border, what they would think now?

‘I’d like to think they will be having a laugh. Thanks to the British Government I will have the chance to get rich smuggling stuff like Persil, razors and petrol when they had to risk their lives moving guns.’

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Another 19-year-old farm hand said: ‘My family’s land was there before there was a border, how will some soldier from either Europe or Britain have a clue which part of our own land we will be moving stuff across?



‘I am too young to remember soldiers on border crossings and checkpoints everywhere and I do not want to see it in my lifetime.

‘But if there is a new type of border and things start to be different either side of it then I will wait and see what I can make the most money from and smuggle that.

‘Or, I will just charge people to take whatever they want me to across the border, that might be easier.’

A disused customs hut in the border town of Pettigo, Ireland (Picture: Getty)

The Borderland store near the Irish border in Muff, Ireland (Picture: Getty Images)

He added: ‘I think it will not be long before there is a united Ireland, Brexit has made it more likely.’

The latest technology could be used to monitor the flow of trade across the border but one teenager from Newry was certain there would be a campaign to destroy any infrastructure.

He said: ‘I read the British Government were planning to use drones to police the border. They will be shot down straight away. There will be piles of the things ready for burning.

‘It will be impossible to stop stuff being smuggled across, even if they closed the roads there are so many other places to cross.

‘There will be a united Ireland because of all this Brexit bollocks. You watch.’

Northern Ireland Chief Constable George Hamilton has previously warned that any new border infrastructure would be seen as ‘symbolic’ by dissident republicans.

He said: ‘Our assessment is that they would be a target because it would be representative of the state and in their minds fair game for attack.’

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