Two Turkish Cypriots fined for attempting to smuggle tobacco to UK

Two Turkish Cypriots have received fines worth thousands of euros after being found attempting to smuggle tobacco from the north to the United Kingdom this week.

The two cases are not related to each other, though both were intercepted at Larnaca airport attempting to board flights bound for the United Kingdom.

The first, on October 1, was found to have concealed 165 boxes of 200 cigarettes in their luggage. She was taken to court on October 4 and handed a €7,000 fine.

The second incident took place the following day, whereby a man was found to have packed 36.5 kilograms of rolling tobacco in his luggage. He was taken to court on October 5 and handed a €8,000 fine.

On both occasions, customs workers were able to identify the tobacco products’ origin by the fact that they did not bear bilingual Turkish and Greek health warnings which are characteristic of all tobacco products sold in the Republic.

The products also did not bear any of the unique security and traceability codes which are mandated for all products sold in the Republic.