Officials find illegal cigarettes and alcohol near Kaunas market

LRT reported that customs and tax officials found 2,108 packs of cigarettes and 24 litres of alcohol without Lithuanian excise stamps during a raid near Kaunas’s Aleksotas market on Thursday.

The Customs Criminal Service and the State Tax Inspectorate conducted the joint operation to prevent illegal trading in excise-taxed goods, according to a Customs Criminal Service statement.

Officials found the goods in a storage unit near the market. Their total value exceeded 12,000 euros.

The market trader renting the storage unit, a Kaunas resident, told officials he had received the cigarettes and alcohol as payment for goods and had hoped to earn additional income from them.

The Customs Criminal Service’s Kaunas division has opened a pre-trial investigation into the illegal possession of excise-taxed goods. The investigation is being led by prosecutors from the Kaunas Regional Prosecutor’s Office.

After questioning, the suspect was released under a written undertaking not to leave the country.

Officials said the Customs Criminal Service and the State Tax Inspectorate would continue conducting similar raids and unannounced inspections of trading and storage locations across Lithuania.