A large amount of tobacco was seized from a commercial vehicle on the Limassol-Larnaca highway on Thursday, police said on Friday.

“12 packages of 1kg and 24 packages of 250g each with hookah tobacco and 120 packages of 50g each of rolling cigarette tobacco  were counted and seized,” the customs department said.

The driver of the vehicle had initially been stopped by police due to traffic violations.

A subsequent search of the vehicle revealed at total of 36kg of tobacco products, which authorities said did not bear the mandatory health warnings in Greek and Turkish, indicating tax had not been paid.

“During the inspection carried out in the vehicle’s storage area, cardboard boxes containing large quantities of hookah and rolling tobacco were found,” the police said.

The customs department was notified and proceeded with the seizure of the tobacco products.

“The driver was arrested for evident offences, while the vehicle was confiscated as the means of transporting the contraband tobacco,” police said.

The driver was later released after paying €6,500 in an out-of-court settlement and an additional €500 for the return of the vehicle.