Customs and TradeNewsSmuggling

Border Guards Found Cigarettes Worth One and a Half Million Euros on Trains Arriving From Belarus

January 20 Officers of the Criminal Intelligence Division of the SBGS Pagėgiai Team and the Special Purpose Division together with the employees of the Safety and Risk Management Department of the company Lietuvos Geležinkeliai found 226 thousand cigarettes in the wagons of a freight train parked in Panevėžys.  The packets were wrapped in sheets and hidden beneath the rubble.

The value of cigarettes imported from Belarus in Lithuania, including all mandatory taxes, is more than 805 thousand Euros.

The border guards who continued the investigation in Panevėžys also detained three Belarusian citizens, aged 28, 32 and 33, and a 41-year-old Lithuanian living in Lazdijai district. Three cars and a truck also fell into the hands of SBGS officials.

All four men were remanded in custody for 15 days to 2 months.

On January 21 Border guards found 175 thousand packs of cigarettes with Belarusian stamps. The value of the cargo in Lithuania, including all mandatory taxes, is more than 622 thousand Euros.