• The Customs Risk Analysis Unit of Valencia seized the goods when the organisation attempted to re-export them to Germany
• It is the third container with counterfeit tobacco to be seized in Valencia this year

18 September 2023 - The Tax Agency and the Civil Guard seized 406,500 packets of a well-known tobacco brand in the port of Valencia on 5 September.

The Customs Risk Analysis Unit of Valencia, made up of Customs Surveillance officials and the Tax Analysis and Investigation and Border Unit of the Civil Guard of the port of Valencia, carried out the investigation that led to the seizure of the more than eight million cigarettes found in the equipment being investigated.

The container housing the contraband tobacco was offloaded in the port of Valencia on 17 July. After several weeks deposited at a port terminal without the smugglers filing documentation to claim the shipment, they abandoned their original plans to import the goods, probably suspicious that Customs may have identified the illegal cargo.

The smugglers then tried to import the container into the EU through another port, which is why it filed a form to re-export the goods to Germany, at which point the Risk Analysis Unit decided to take action, checking the contents of the container and discovering the 406,500 packets it held inside.

This operation against tobacco smuggling is the third one executed in the port of Valencia so far this year by the Tax Agency and the Civil Guard, which in total prevented the entry of more than 1,451,000 packets of tobacco, worth over 5,859,000 euros.

The work to combat cigarette smuggling by criminal groups requires the combined efforts of the Tax Agency's Customs Surveillance Unit and the Civil Guard, in coordination with Maritime Customs of Valencia, which fight against these illegal activities through seizures like the one involved in this operation, which remains open.