Members of an organized criminal group dealing with illegal trade in tobacco products and alcohol were detained

Officers from the facility in Hrebenne, acting on the order of the District Prosecutor’s Office in Zamość, arrested seven members of an organized criminal group dealing with fiscal crimes – illegal trade in tobacco products and alcohol. It was established that the group was active from January 2018 to March 2020, in nine provinces (Łódzkie, Lubelskie, Świętokrzyskie, Mazowieckie, Podkarpackie, Małopolskie, Śląskie, Opolskie, Dolnośląskie), and abroad, on the territory of Germany and Switzerland. Their activity consisted in purchasing, storing and transporting excise goods, i.e. alcohol and cigarettes not marked with Polish excise tax stamps and without a customs declaration. The leaders of the criminal procedure personally organized the smuggling of excise goods from the territory of Ukraine to Poland, collecting appropriate amounts of the goods in order to prepare them for further distribution in the country and abroad. Then, in accordance with the established division of roles in the group – other members were engaged in packing goods into vehicles equipped with special compartments. Some members of the group were responsible for transporting and delivering them to various places in the country or abroad for resale.

As a result of criminal activity – trade in cigarettes in the amount of almost 140,000 packets and 150 liters of alcohol with a 95% concentration – the losses of the State Treasury amount to over PLN 3 million. Due to excise duty in the amount of almost PLN 2.5 million, VAT in the amount of about PLN 670,000 and customs duty in the amount exceeding PLN 180,000. The suspects were charged with directing or acting in an organized criminal group and the exposure of the State Treasury to a reduction in tax liabilities. Three persons holding a leading position in the group, including the head of the criminal dealings, have been temporarily detained (for a period of 3 months). In relation to the remaining persons, the prosecutor applied a preventive measure in the form of police supervision.