7.7 mln illicit cigarettes found in truck headed to Sweden

Customs officials detected 7.7 million illicit cigarettes and arrested a 52-year-old Estonian truck driver in a joint operation of the Tax and Customs Board and the Police and Border Guard Board in the Estonian port of Paldiski at the end of March.

According to the documents accompanying the cargo, the truck was supposed to be carrying a cargo of plastic forks and knives. Customs officials who examined the trailer established that whereas the first two pallets were loaded with plastic items, the rest of the cargo consisted of 7,768,000 illicit cigarettes of the «ducal» brand bearing health advisory messages in Spanish, spokespeople for the Estonian Public Prosecutor's Office said.

Although Estonia was not the destination market for the contraband cigarettes, the country would have lost 1.3 million euros in taxes if the cargo had been sold in Estonia. The 52-year-old driver, identified by his first name as Nikolai, is accused of violation of the rules for the processing of tobacco products, which is punishable with a fine or up to five years in jail.

The prosecutor in charge of the investigation, Robert Saareke, said on the average 30-40 cases are registered annually where tobacco products without tax stamps or with invalid tax stamps are attempted to be brought to the consumer.

Urmas Koidu, head of the department for customs organization at the Tax and Customs Board, said stepped up controls at border crossings and within the country have begun to have an impact on the market for illicit cigarettes. "The share of the illicit market declined from 21 percent to 16 percent in 2013 and presumably a reduction continued also last year. Cooperation with the Police and Border Guard Board, with whom we conduct numerous joint activities at border checkpoints, on the green border and within the country alike, has proved very useful in this," Koidu said.