Moldovan customs officers stopped 81 attempts to smuggle tobacco products in January-May 2022, an 88 percent increase over the same period last year.
During the press conference, representatives of the Customs Service (CS) and the Border Police said that in the context of the war in Ukraine and the migration crisis, the priority of both agencies was to adequately manage the flow of traffic and people at the border. Nevertheless, the task of countering customs law violations and illegal trade, including cigarettes, remains a strategic objective. Deputy Director of the CS Nicolae Vutcariov said that official data show a decrease in the volume of imports of cigarettes and raw materials for their production in the domestic market, while the number of interceptions by customs authorities of illicit cigarette trafficking has increased. Thus, in 5 months of 2022 Moldova imported 526.6 million cigarettes, which is 25% less than in the same period last year, and the import of raw tobacco decreased by 45% - from 677 to 371 tons. In January-May 2022, Moldovan customs officers stopped 81 attempts to smuggle tobacco products, or 88% more than in the same period last year. Among the biggest seizures the customs authorities named the detection of a clandestine cigarette factory (52.1 million pieces of cigarettes and tobacco raw materials were seized), the suppression of illegal activities of economic agent of cigarette exporting Bussines Club (32.3 million pieces of cigarettes were seized) and the detection of cigarettes concealed in vehicles (0.2 million pieces). At the same time, the largest seizure of smuggled cigarettes by Romanian customs authorities was registered at Leuseni-Albita checkpoint, when the perpetrators attempted to smuggle into Romania 0.7 million Kult brand cigarettes, which represented almost 80% of all smuggled cigarettes detained by the Romanian side on the border with Moldova. According to the Customs Service, all detained cigarettes had Moldovan excise stamps; no cases of counterfeit tobacco products were registered. The most popular brands of cigarettes used in smuggling since early 2022 were Marlboro (official importer Philip Morris) - 13% of the total number of smuggled cigarettes, Kent (official importer BAT) and Winston (JTI) - 8% each, Camel (JTI) - 7% and Rothmans (BAT) - 4%. The Customs Service said it could not assess the total value of the seized tobacco products, but said it had detained about 20 vehicles that attempted to smuggle cigarettes out of Moldova, their value exceeding 6.6 million lei. Since the beginning of the year 8 criminal cases have been started on the smuggling of cigarettes: 12 people have been prosecuted, 3 people were declared suspects and 4 more people were detained, including 2 drivers, 1 customs officer and 1 former CS employee. As the head of the CS Igor Talmazan said, illicit cigarette trafficking is an economic and reputational risk of the country, but the potential in the fight against smuggling is not fully mastered. To achieve improvements in this area, the agency proposes a number of legislative changes, including the introduction of mandatory registration of equipment for the production of cigarettes, allowing the import of raw materials only to licensed manufacturers of tobacco products, etc. // 21.07.2022 – InfoMarket
