Sunday 27 March 2011

One of the largest tobacco hauls at the border

GIBRALTAR/CAMPO DE GIBRALTAR (Agencies/Photo: Guardia Civil) As we've said before, we don't publish every item about tobacco smuggling that appears in the local media because there are just too many (we mean articles, not smugglers, although...). However, this one is one of the largest hauls ever, and it appeared in the Gibraltar Chronicle: In the early hours of last Friday morning the Guardia Civil at the border post with Gibraltar searched a Toyota Land Cruiser as it crossed in to Spain. Inside they found 9,500 packets of American Legend cigarettes. They were hidden in the back of the vehicle and were covered with blankets and plastic bags. Officers arrested a Gibraltarian with the initials K.V.M but due to a slip on the press notice it is known his first name is Kevin. The cigarettes and vehicle have been impounded and he awaits a court appearance.>
There have been a large amount of cigarette seizures in recent weeks. On the same night as the Gibraltarian was arrested a diver and two people waiting in a car was caught on the Poniente beach with 1,000 packets of the same brand.

Last week the Guardia Civil also confiscated over 11,600 packets of cigarettes in three actions at the border with Gibraltar. In the first 8,300 packets were found hidden in two cars leaving the Rock and two men from La Línea were duly arrested. Another 3,355 packets were discovered in another car at a routine check point on the paso de Gibraltar. This follows on from 9,700 packets being seized over the previous weekend.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Shame 40% of cigarettes from Gibraltar are fake. These are supplied by the main Gibraltar breweries and come from China.

Anonymous said...

40% of the cigarettes supplied by the main breweries in Gibraltar are fake. I know I order them from China. I never buy from Gib. I always buy Spanish branded.