ONCE separated by years of violence now a river is all that divides the Border villages of Blacklion and Belcoo with Fermanagh on one side and Cavan on the other.
Gone are the check points manned by the British Army, the concrete barriers blocking the roads and the customs points where officials kept an eye out for anyone smuggling illicit goods.
Here women were said to have hid live turkeys inside their coats, pretending they were pregnant, while men crammed butter, eggs and even bags of flour into their pockets as they crossed the two jurisdictions.
Now as the United Kingdom prepares to leave the European Union different tax regimes coupled with the ability to easily cross the invisible Border has sparked concerns of a renaissance in smuggling.
“Smuggling was rife and it always will be in a Border area,” says shopkeeper Harold Johnston.
Across the invisible border from Belcoo and over an old stone bridge to Blacklion is where Mr. Johnston’s family clothes shop has been since 1901.
He tells a great tale about a businessman who left the village on horse and cart to go shopping in Enniskillen in 1923 just as customs points were being erected following the partition of Ireland.
When he returned later that day customs officers were in position threatening to seize his belongings, including his horse.
“So he turned and went back to the North. Later that night when the customs officers had gone he carried all his things back over the border as quickly as he could,” said Mr. Johnston.
“That, would you believe, was the first smuggler in Ireland,” he laughed.
Thousands of people pass in and out of the two countries each day, sometimes even unaware that they are moving across one of the 300 border crossings.
All shopkeeper Eamon McCaughey has to do is walk a few yards from his house in Clones, County Monaghan and he’s into Newtownbutler. When Brexit comes he’ll be able to see the European Union’s frontier from his front door.
“There is an unmanned Border, post Brexit I believe smuggling will be more epidemic,” he said.
Three of the roads in the small village of Rosslea a few miles away lead into the Republic of Ireland where James Connolly runs JFC Distributors. He believes the Border could become a “free of all.”
“Why pay something in Fermanagh when you could get it 20 per cent cheaper half a mile away?”
These days fuel, alcohol and cigarettes are of the most value to the black market with the Irish Exchequer thought to have lost €170m this year already due to the sale of 412 million illegal cigarettes. 
Niamh Smyth, a Fianna Fáil TD for Cavan-Monaghan says any introduction of a hard Border “will have implications” on cross Border businesses.
“It will have a profound impact on those businesses in Cavan, Monaghan and Fermanagh, there is no doubt about it,” she said. 
For Enniskillen butcher Pat O’Doherty it’s the “not knowing” that frightens him.
“If some guy decides to smuggle beef after Brexit it could affect business, we need some clarity on this,” he said.
Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg had a different view when he spoke at a fringe meeting at his party conference recently.
“I don’t care if a few hundredweight of beef is smuggled across the Irish Border. It will make no odds to the British economy,” he said.
Damien McGenity of Border Communities Against Brexit, wants to see the Border in the Irish Sea, a proposal rejected by the Democratic Unionist Party for fear it would create a barrier between Northern Ireland and the rest of the United Kingdom.
“If our goal is achieved then in large part, smuggling would effectively be eliminated on the island of Ireland,” said Mr. McGenity.