WILLEMSTAD - Large quantities of alcoholic beverages are illegally imported in Curaçao. They are mainly the brands Hennessy, Old Parr, Bacardi and Black Label. Local businesses are the victims of the illegal trade.

The popular liquor brands are illegally smuggled into Curaçao. The importers receive thousands of guilders profit on this. The items are imported by changing the harmonized code on the invoice to an HS code, which does not require any import duties or excise duties to be paid. Customs can't check everything, so this slips through.

As a result, the illegal importer pays much less excise and import duties and thus receives an enormous profit. The official importers have to endure this. “I do the marketing, the PR, advertise and make sure that the brand is known and others reap the profits,” said a well-known business owner. The business owner indicates that the government is aware of this but is not doing anything about it.