Customs officers seize nearly €2m worth of smuggled cigarettes from Latvia

Lithuanian Customs Criminal Service (MKT) officers have seized a large shipment of illegal cigarettes worth €1.98 million in the Kaunas district, LRT reports.

The cigarettes, branded as “Winston Blue” and marked with Belarusian excise stamps, are suspected to have been counterfeited at a shadow tobacco factory in Latvia. On Monday, MKT officers patrolling the Karmėlava area stopped a “Man” cargo truck at around 16:30. The Ukrainian driver declared he was transporting a load of disposable containers, but officers grew suspicious of the black polyethylene-wrapped boxes.

After redirecting the truck to Kaunas Customs for a detailed inspection, authorities discovered 18 wooden pallets containing 720 boxes of cigarettes, totalling 360,000 packs. The total value, including applicable taxes, amounts to €1.98 million. The driver was detained for 48 hours.

An pre-trial investigation has been launched by the MKT Kaunas division for the unlawful handling of excisable goods. According to the service, last year Lithuanian customs officers seized nearly 7 million packs of illegal cigarettes in pre-trial investigations, most of which were imported from Latvia.