Two Turkish Cypriots have been fined a total of €8,400 by the customs department for attempting to smuggle untaxed tobacco products from the north into the Republic.

According to a statement, customs officers carried out a vehicle inspection at the Lefka crossing point on Thursday. The vehicle, driven by a Turkish Cypriot, was travelling from the north into the Republic.

During the inspection, officers found and confiscated 19 cartons of 200 cigarettes each, one carton of 200 heated tobacco sticks, and 3.75 kilogrammes of rolling tobacco.

The items lacked the required health warning labels in Greek and Turkish and were missing the security markings and unique traceability codes, indicating they were untaxed.

The driver was arrested for the offences but was later released after agreeing to a settlement, paying a total of €6,000 and having the seized vehicle returned.

In a separate incident on the same day, customs officers were alerted by Morphou police to a vehicle attempting to cross from the north through an unauthorised crossing point.

The vehicle, driven by a Turkish Cypriot, was found to contain a quantity of tobacco products. The vehicle and driver were taken to the Astromeritis-Zodia crossing, where customs officials seized 19 cartons of 200 cigarettes each, one kilogramme of hand-rolled cigarette tobacco, and one kilogramme of hookah tobacco.

The driver of this vehicle was also arrested but later released after agreeing to pay €2,400 for the return of the vehicle.