Amongst the various articles written about the various people who planned, executed and abetted not helped the crime, was a small article about how a bunch of cops allowed the explosives required for the bombs into the country believing that it was silver. As I thought on, the numbers hit me fast, Mumbai has nearly 1-2 lakh pan-bidi shops that stock smuggled cigarettes assuming that each sold 5 packs a day that would mean nearly 8 -10 lakh packs of cigarettes a day. Multiply that by 30 and it becomes 25-30 lakh cigarettes a month. By similar calculation I believe the at least 10 lakh smuggles phones must be sold in Mumbai every month. Then came shoes and the number only increases, it is my belief that nearly 50 lakh boxes of shoes are smuggled into the country. And if all that’s not enough there are banned drugs which also penetrate the security rings on the border to be sold at nearly every other street.

I know these things have been there for years, so their existence doesn’t surprise me, what shocks me is the size and scale of operations. It would not freak me out if some 20 or 30 pieces/packs/boxes of the products were sold as that would mean that each one could be checked. But if the operation runs in millions, it’s going to be DAMN easy to sneak ten boxes containing potential explosives among 2 lakh boxes of shoes (the same may apply for drugs, mobiles or smokes). But even as I rush to complain and blamethe government, the cops and everyone else, I realise that we the people are more responsible than anybody else. Nothing that has no takers for ever gets sold. Remeber, how all Pagers went out of business once Mobiles came, but Radio is still in  in business because there are still people who love listening to it.

So the next time you go mobile or shoe shopping spend a few more rupees and buy a legal one with a bill. And the next time you strike a match, to light a smuggled smoke, spare a moment to think, aren’t just you making your daily contribution  to making this city unsafe.