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VRBNICA, Serbia - For the embryonic United Nations customs regime on Kosovo's main border crossing with Albania, the motto is: "Look, but don't touch."
Without a shed, weapons or a computer database on a frontier where, in the aftermath of war, many travellers have no identity or car papers, the U.N. officers can do no more than observe.
The new U.N. administration in Kosovo (UNMIK) announced the establishment of customs services on main frontier points with Macedonia and Albania on July 31 as a first step towards tackling smuggling and racketeering, and filling empty coffers.
The reality on the desolate mountain border at Vrbnica, 100 km (65 miles) southwest of Pristina, was sobering on Tuesday.
Three unarmed officers borrowed from the U.N. police monitoring unit in Bosnia stood by the road with dog-eared notepads and with two ethnic Albanian interpreters nearby.
Ramshackle trucks and cars approached in a slow but steady stream from Albania, watched warily by the German peacekeeping troops who guard the frontier.
Most drivers passed the U.N. officers unchecked and were searched only by German troops looking only for weapons.
On Tuesday, they were still questioning an Albanian detained the night before after four Kalashnikov assault rifles were found stashed in false panels in the doors of his car.
Every 10th vehicle or so, usually a truck, is stopped by a U.N. officer who asks occupants to identify themselves and their cargo. He scribbles down the answers, politely thanks the driver and motions him on.
Most drivers questioned have described their cargo as humanitarian aid, machinery, fuel, furniture, washing machines, refrigerators, television sets and construction materials. No cargo was actually inspected by the U.N. officers.
Aside from spot checks at NATO roadblocks, the honour system covers both guerrilla disarmament and control of contraband in the fragile early days of international protectorate in Kosovo.
"Our job now is merely to collect a database on who and what is coming into Kosovo and who and what is going out. We have no search and seizure powers because there is no customs law yet," said Captain Iftikhar ul-Haq, U.N. team leader at Vrbnica.
"It's hard to do anything more than monitoring because many people in this region have no passports, identity documents or car papers of any kind," the Pakistani officer said.
In Pristina, UNMIK spokesman Kevin Kennedy said it was hoped fully-fledged controls could be introduced within weeks.
"For us to to draw up regulations, it's useful to know what kinds of cargo are coming through and what kind of duties can be realistically assessed," he said. "A customs service is more than a man with a gun and a bag collecting money."
As with every other pillar of civil administration in Kosovo, customs controls must be built from the ground up.
"Here, we need containers to live in, an office, a scanner to check passports, stamps for visas and duty forms, mirrors to slide under cars etcetera," said Superintendent Fatih Inalkac, a Turk who specialised in organised crime in his homeland.
Most urgent is a database on stolen cars, since many passing between Kosovo and lawless Albania are thought to be "hot". Few have valid number plates -- or any number plates at all.
All around Vrbnica lies the detritus of war.
Coiled barbed wire tagged with red signs warning of land mines left behind by Yugoslav army lines the roads, and unexploded NATO bombs riddle the frontier highlands. Automatic fire often echoes from the wooded mountains at night.
"We don't know who it is -- guerrillas or gangsters fighting each other or maybe just firing into the air," said a German soldier. "But they never fire at us."