Customs officers seize 239,000 cigarettes brought from Latvia

Lithuanian customs criminal officers seized 239,000 cigarettes being transported from Latvia in two cars in Kėdainiai district last week, LRT reported. The cigarettes, worth more than €60,000 including taxes, were carried by two residents of Kaunas.

Officers from the Customs Criminal Service’s Kaunas division stopped the two Volkswagen Passats for inspection on the A8 highway near the village of Nociūnai on Friday evening. The cars’ interiors and trunks were packed with Winston Blue and Marlboro cigarettes without tax stamps.

The drivers said they had brought the cigarettes from Latvia to sell them. The cigarettes and cars were seized, and two pretrial investigations were opened into the illegal possession of excise goods. Prosecutors from the Kaunas Regional Prosecutor’s Office are leading the investigations. The drivers were ordered not to leave and had their documents taken.

The Customs Criminal Service said most cigarettes seized in its recent investigations had been brought from Latvia. Officers suspect the cigarettes seized in this case may have been counterfeit and produced at an illicit factory in Latvia. The service said it was increasing patrols and vehicle checks on domestic roads in response to changing smuggling routes and trends.