... the heck?

They were doing customs checks on lorries and vans along the countryside highway to Essen today.
Why the heck would you do that?
I mean, it's not like my region is borderland*. It's one and a half hours to the Netherlands, two to Belgium and Luxembourg, two and a half to France, even more to anywhere else you might want to smuggle stuff from. There are about a million places where a customs check would make more sense. The heck?

In other news, it's finally weekend!
A jacket-free 15°C hiding-from-carnival February weekend.
Huzzah.

*in the 21st century.