Vitebsk customs officers discovered over 95,000 packs of smuggled cigarettes in a Renault car

August 19, Minsk /Corr. A large batch of contraband cigarettes was detained by employees of the Vitebsk customs and border guards at the "Urbany" checkpoint. During a customs inspection of a "Renault" car traveling from Belarus to Great Britain with a cargo of polyethylene, more than 95 thousand packs of contraband cigarettes were discovered, the press service of the State Customs Committee of Belarus informed BELTA.

The driver, a citizen of Lithuania, hid boxes of Belarusian-made cigarettes under bags of polyethylene, trying to deceive customs officers and thereby earn money by reselling cigarettes on the markets of the European Union, where their cost is an order of magnitude higher than in Belarus. However, the experience of customs and border guards allowed them to discover the hidden cigarettes.

In relation to the offender, customs officers drew up a report on an administrative offense under Part 4 of Article 14.1 "Illegal movement of goods across the customs border of the Republic of Belarus" and Part 1 of Article 12.27 "Illegal import, transportation, storage of alcoholic beverages and tobacco products..." of the Code of the Republic of Belarus on Administrative Offenses. Cigarettes worth more than Br130 million were seized.

In total, for the past period of 2011, customs authorities have suppressed 471 attempts of illegal export of tobacco products outside the country. More than 58.5 million cigarettes were seized from illegal circulation. 217 citizens were brought to administrative responsibility.-0-