Spaniards fined £50,000 for cigarette smuggling in Gibraltar

Smuggling from Gib to Spain

GIBRALTAR (Agencies & GibChronicle/Photo: Letters from Gib.com) Two Spanish nationals were fined £50,000 by the Magistrates Court this week after they admitted attempting to smuggle 500,000 cigarettes across the border into Spain. Rafael Alberto Piñero Benítez, from Chiclana, and Yerina García Martín, from La Línea, were arrested by Customs officers on Good Friday as they were leaving Gibraltar in a motor caravan. Officers found the equivalent of 50 cases of cigarettes stashed throughout the caravan. The two pleaded guilty to charges of possession and unlawful transportation of a commercial quantity of cigarettes, as well as being knowingly concerned in its exportation. Stipendiary Magistrate Charles Pitto imposed a fine of £25,000 each to be paid immediately. In default of the payment, each defendant will spend 180 days in prison. The arrests come as police forces on both sides of the border are clamping down on contraband tobacco and Spain is toughening laws on it. The federation of tobacconists of the province of Cadiz have also been complaining bitterly that their business is severely impacted by smuggled tobacco on sale just about anywhere except at the official tobacco outlets like theirs.