The Tax Agency discovers an international network dedicated to tobacco smuggling on a large scale

Operation ‘Kaveas’

• The smuggling organisation had set up ten false high-voltage transformers to conceal 125,000 packets of cigarettes
• The transformers, from Russia, were intercepted in the surroundings of the port of Bilbao moments before being transported by road to the United Kingdom
• A citizen of Estonia who is considered responsible for the organisation in Spain is under arrest in the Basque Country

2 January 2014.-

The Tax Agency has discovered an international network dedicated to tobacco smuggling on a large scale that used false high-voltage transformers to keep the illegal goods hidden and to trick customs checks. As a result of these investigations, carried out within the framework of the operation 'Kaveas', Tax Agency Customs Surveillance officers in the Basque Country have confiscated 125,000 smuggled packets of cigarette¡s in the surroundings of the Port of Bilbao ready to be shipped by the overland route to the United Kingdom. and have arrested a suspect believed to be the leader of the organisation in Spain.

The investigations carried out have allowed us to discover that this international conspiracy has probably carried out previous shipments using the same concealment system.

The organisation had designed a new and ingenious system to elude customs checks. To do so, they took a high-voltage transformer refrigerated by oil made by a multinational company and faithfully copied its exterior appearance; however, inside they constructed a storage area, isolated from the oil, in which they hid the tobacco.

The use of transformers of this type was solely to dissuade possible physical inspections in customs offices, given the difficulties of detecting illegal goods using a scanner when they are covered by specific metals and, in this case, also submerged in oil.

Originating from Russia

According to the investigation carried out by agents from the Special Delegation of the Tax Agency's Customs Surveillance in the Basque Country and from the General Sub-directorate of the Tax Agency's Customs and Excise Department Operations, with the collaboration of other European customs offices, the ten transformers were loaded onto a container in Saint Petersburg.

From this Russian city, the transformers were transported by sea to the port of Bilbao, where they were off-loaded with the intention of continuing their journey by road to the United Kingdom crossing the English Channel. All the confiscated tobacco had text in Cyrillic characters on its labels, which indicates that the origin of the criminal activity was also highly likely to be Russia.

Within the framework of the same operation, and in addition to the confiscation of 125,000 smuggled packets of cigarette¡s, the agents of the Tax Agency's Customs Surveillance in the Basque Country have arrested a citizen of Estonia who is considered to be the leader of the organisation in Spain.

A changing phenomenon

Operation 'Kaveas' shows the diversification of the modus operandi of smuggler organisations, since in addition to traditional ways of transporting smuggled tobacco (container by sea to pass through Customs, or land transport from usual supply places), a new methodology and a new route of supply have now been added.

During 2013, and in their constant search for possible changes in smuggler organisation strategies, the agents of Customs Surveillance have, for the first time in Spain, dismantled a clandestine tobacco factory (operation 'Jaula,' in Coslada and Guadalajara) and, more recently, with operation 'Hunt Eagle,' have aborted a clandestine smuggling route by sea, which was traditional in our country in the eighties, but has not been seen in the last two decades.

Customs Supervision: Submission of reports for smuggling and related crimes.

Free telephone for reports, 900351378. Email: va.adu@aeat.es