- The operations have been carried out at the customs office in Algeciras, in La Línea and at the airport in Seville

- The value of the seized tobacco amounts to two million euros

The Tax Agency, in collaboration with the Civil Guard, has seized more than 500,000 packets of tobacco in several anti-smuggling operations carried out on 14 and 19 December in Algeciras, La Línea and Seville airport. The market value of the seized tobacco is estimated at two million euros.

The operations carried out began on December 14 in La Línea de la Concepción (Cádiz), where a large-scale operation was deployed to control tobacco smuggling, made up of Customs Surveillance officials from the Tax Agency in Andalusia and Civil Guard personnel. The purpose of the operation was to ensure increased control of the customs area, its surrounding areas and roadblocks, as well as inspection of final sales points, such as bars and kiosks.

By strengthening the control of goods carried by travellers passing through La Línea customs from Gibraltar, 386 searches were carried out. The aim was to detect the presence of tobacco above the limits that allow imports under a duty-free and tax-free regime, as well as the concealment of packets that could constitute administrative smuggling offences.

As a result of these controls, 83 procedures were carried out, resulting in more than 800 packs being abandoned by travellers for exceeding the allowable limits. Six investigations were also initiated for the commission of smuggling offences, resulting in the seizure of 818 packets of tobacco of various brands. An additional 40 road checks were carried out at the exit of the town of La Línea and 13 checks were carried out in retail establishments, with 25 packets of tobacco being seized in one of them.

Five days later, on the morning of December 19, and based on lines of investigation opened by the Customs Department of the Tax Agency, officials from the Seville customs office and personnel from the Civil Guard seized 2,580 packets of tobacco at the customs office of the airport in the capital of Seville, contained in five checked bags in the name of Romanian citizens on flights from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

Seizure in Algeciras

On the same day, within the framework of international collaboration in the control of sensitive goods, and on the basis of security controls carried out based on information in the entry summary declaration (ENS), the presence of a container was detected at the Algeciras customs with a risk profile that raised suspicions that it could contain undeclared goods.

Once it was opened, it was found to be fully loaded, containing 499,500 packs of cigarettes of various brands, valued at almost two million euros, which were intended to be smuggled in by impersonating the company name of a company with no activity. The container came from Malaysia and the goods declared in the ENS were plastic furniture. An investigation has been launched to identify the perpetrators of these acts.