ABSTRACT
While listening to this administrative police offi cer describe how Turkey was unprepared to respond to mount an ‘effi cient’ response to smuggling, I requested a number of statistics, and was presented with yearly trends in apprehension data. Throughout our discussion I recalled that much of the current controversy over smuggling can be traced back to the ways in which the state makes statistics, and how these statistics fuel perceptions of being ‘unprepared’ and needing ‘effi cient’ solutions to socially constructed problems. The statistics surrounding smuggling tell a number of complex stories-stories which can be interpreted in diff erent ways depending on the observer.
