A total 1,390 packets of cigarettes were seized on 2 September 2015 after two smugglers were caught attempting to illegally transfer the contraband in Luxembourg.

In cooperation with the Moldovan Operations Centre, the local police to the Services des Relations Internationales (SRI), Service de Contròle à l'Aeroport (SCA) and the Special Department of Luxembourg customs foiled a smuggling attempt which, if successful, would have illegally transported a total 27,800 cigarettes into the European market.

The perpetrators were reported by the Grand Ducal Police to have come from Eastern Europe, having take a journey from the Moldovan city of Chișinău to Istanbul, before attempting to smuggle the contraband past Luxembourg customs into the European Union.

The two men were logged by the public prosecutor's office, and the illegal contraband has been confiscated.

The incident represents the second of its kind to have been reported in Luxembourg in recent weeks, after another attempt in August 2015 to smuggle packets containing some 1,130,000 untaxed cigarettes disguised as pasta boxes.

 

Photo by Shutterstock