Five cases of serious tobacco smuggling in two weeks

A man has been fined €2,800 after attempting to smuggle cigarettes and tobacco from the north in the engine of his car.

The tobacco products were found by police as the man attempted to cross southwards at the Astromeritis crossing point and included 34 boxes of 200-packs of cigarettes, over two kilogrammes of tobacco for roll-up cigarettes, and 340 e-cigarettes.

The man was arrested and ordered to pay a €2,800 fine, while both the tobacco products and his car were seized.

Police say that this was one of five cases in which they have seized tobacco products from individuals in the space of two weeks from May 31 to June 14.

On May 31, police in Limassol seized over 70kgs of hookah tobacco from a series of cafes, bars and hotels in the district, for which no customs duty had been paid.

On June 3, police found 4,660 cigarettes and 700 grammes of tobacco for roll-up cigarettes which bore no customs markings in a residential property in Nicosia. The owner of the property was arrested and ordered to pay a €1,800 fine.

The following day, police in Paphos found 58 boxes of 200-packs of cigarettes, 54 packets of tobacco for roll-up cigarettes, and 1,600 e-cigarettes during a routine stop of a private car.

They determined that the products had been imported illegally as they did not bear health warnings in both Greek and Turkish as is the standard for tobacco products in the Republic of Cyprus. The driver of the car admitted that he had bought the products in the north and received a €7,500 fine.

On June 10, police in Limassol found 15 boxes of 200-packs of cigarettes and 2,800 e-cigarettes during a routine stop of a private car.

As in the previous case in Paphos, they noticed a lack of bilingual health warnings on the packets, and the driver of the car admitted to having purchased all the products in the north. As a result, he was fined €3,000 and his car was seized.