The Necessity of a Strategic Review Regarding the Mens Rea for Smuggling Goods and Currency and Related Crimes

Nearly a century has passed since the crime of smuggling goods and currency was first defined, yet one of the fundamental ambiguities that overshadow condemnation of these crimes and the fate of many defendants, is the mens rea and the way it is interpreted. Despite the amendments to the Law of Combating Commodity and Currency Smuggling, there is still a disagreement in the judicial procedure as there is a difference of opinion in whether these illegal acts should be treated as crimes and offenses with or without criminal liability. This article, uses the descriptive-analytical method, refers to the background of regulations and some judicial opinions, and analyses different opinions in order to obtain a comprehensive differential model for predicting the mens rea of such crimes. Findings showed that, by adopting a differential strategic approach to crimes related to the smuggling of goods and currency, by including the conditions required to obtain a mens rea, and by strengthening legal texts, it is possible to overcome the problem of extreme criminalization in these crimes and achieve a fair verdict for defendants.