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This tractor with Polish numbers was stopped on May 1. The Belarusian citizen who drove it claimed that he was transporting particle board to Poland. Wooden shipments are always suspicious, because it is convenient to hide the contraband in them (for example, the first “coffins”, that is, when the cavities for cigarette boxes are cut into a load of wooden panels or boards, they were discovered by Lithuanian customs officials in 2009).
The cargo inspected at the Raigard post office on the afternoon of May 1 turned out to be suspicious to officers as well due to the fact that the panels were not only reinforced with straps, but also connected to each other with wood screws.
After drilling the plates, there was tobacco left in the drill. Many cigarettes were found in a “coffin”.
A pre-trial investigation into smuggling was initiated at the Kaunas branch of the Criminal Customs Service (CCS). The tractor driver was detained for two days and on May 3. He was arrested for 2 months by decision of the Kaunas City District Court. The loaded truck was brought to Panevėžys.
Such huge loads with hiding places are being destroyed outside, so it was decided to wait a few days in anticipation of better weather, but on May 12. the weather not only did not improve, but was completely subdued, the demolition work had to start with snow.
The semi-trailer turned out to have eight large and two smaller “coffins”. The dismantling of the first (larger) caches revealed that they contained approximately 130 boxes (65,000 packs) of Belarusian cigarettes “Minsk Superslims”, “NZ Gold” and “NZ Black”.
The caches were still being demolished on Tuesday afternoon. According to approximate data, some 600 thousand were hidden in the semi-trailer. packages, the value of which in Lithuania, with compulsory taxes, is approximately two million euros.
The investigation will clarify which country the cargo should have been sold in: the farther west the greater the smugglers’ profit.
According to MKT, currently in Belarus a pack of cigarettes (Fest, NZ, Minsk) costs around 40-50 cents (i.e. 1.08-1.28 Belarusian rubles). In Lithuania, with compulsory taxes, such a package costs around 3.49 euros. On the Lithuanian black market, these cigarettes sell for approximately € 1.4 each.
According to MKT representative Gediminas Kulikauskas, until recently that charge would have been included in the registry, but now it is only included in the “large” category.
Last year, customs detained 8.2 million. cigarette packs, and 7.4 million have already been seized in less than five months this year. packages
According to officials, the flow of smuggled cigarettes began to grow sharply late last year.
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