2023-11-08 21:25:04
Belgian customs have already seized nearly 307 million illegal cigarettes this year and the General Administration of Customs and Excise organized a new day of action on Wednesday once morest the production of contraband cigarettes, indicates the Federal Public Service Finance.
An illegal cigarette factory was dismantled on Wednesday in the port area of Ghent, where around 10 million Marlboro cigarettes bearing English inscriptions were seized as well as 2.4 tonnes of cut tobacco and 50 pallets of tobacco precursors. Seventeen people – 13 Ukrainians and 4 Armenians – were also arrested during this operation.
A cutting workshop and a tobacco drying workshop were also discovered in Mol, where 5 tonnes of raw tobacco and 5 tonnes of cut tobacco were seized. In Mouscron, 5 million cigarettes were also discovered in a warehouse.
In total, around 15 million cigarettes and 7.4 tonnes of cut tobacco were seized during this day of action. The duties evaded (excise, special excise and VAT) on these cigarettes and tobacco total 8 million euros.
In 2023, a total of six illegal cigarette production sites have already been dismantled in Belgium, as well as 11 warehouses and 2 cutting sites. This brings the total seizures for 2023 to 307,966,009 cigarettes, 79.5 tonnes of smoking tobacco, 26.1 tonnes of hookah tobacco and 41.7 tonnes of raw tobacco. The total amount of duties evaded for this year amounts to 153 million euros.
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