The Security and Intelligence Service jointly with the Prosecutor’s Office for Combating Organized Crime and Special Cases (PCCOCS) conducted searches within a criminal case for smuggling, on 20 July 2020, in a warehouse situated in a town from the Republic of Moldova, in close proximity to the border with Romania.
570 boxes were found in the warehouse, containing 285 thousand packs of cigarettes, and another 585 boxes with 292 500 packs of cigarettes were found in three minibuses, with Romanian license plates. Therefore, a total of 1155 boxes were found, containing 577 500 packs of Ashima cigarettes without excise stamps. The price of the cigarettes on the black market would be estimated around EUR 500 thousand.
The batch found in the minibuses adapted for concealing items but also the evidence gathered in the case indicate the process of preparation a criminal offence of smuggling cigarettes without excise stamps to the countries of the European Union. All the tobacco goods, transport and financial means have been seized and are currently in the custody of law enforcement agencies for undergoing legal procedures to determine the source, quality and detailed assessment.
Given the fact that four citizens of the Republic of Moldova were found in the warehouse, they were searched, and as a result, officers seized a sum of approximately EUR 11 000, both in euro and Romanian lei.
On the same day, the concerned individuals were detained for 72 hours. The criminal proceedings on this case is ongoing. Prosecutors intend to request in court the application of the pre-trial detention of the four individuals.
According to the criminal law, the offence of particularly large-scale smuggling is punished with imprisonment from 3 to 10 years, while a legal entity is punished with a fine amounting from 300 000 to 500 000 lei, and deprivation of the right to exercise a certain activity or termination of the legal entity.
Video from the searched location:
