10,400,000 cigarettes (520,000 packs) of Marlboro cigarettes were hidden in a truck on its way to Germany. According to the documents, the cargo should have contained electric heaters, the VID said.
On September 3, 2024, while checking vehicles before boarding a ferry from Liepaja to the German port city of Travemünde, an officer of the Liepaja Port Customs Control Point diverted a Scania vehicle for examination with a cargo X-ray machine. According to the accompanying cargo document, the cargo should have contained electric heaters. After analyzing the images, customs experts suspected that other goods were being transported.
Having detected signs of a criminal offense during the customs control, the officials of the Port of Liepāja Customs Office handed over the case files to the Tax and Customs Police of the VID.
The amount of excise duty unpaid on these cigarettes is approximately €1.6 million.
Pre-trial investigations are ongoing in the criminal proceedings and no further information is provided in the interest of the investigation.
