Approx. 600,000 packs of contraband cigarettes, confiscated last week

The Border Police and other structures of the Ministry of Administration and Interior (MAI), with support from the Directorate General of Information and Internal Protection (DGIPI), and under the coordination of the Prosecutors of the Organised Crime and Terrorism Investigation Directorate (DIICOT), have confiscated 575,574 packs of contraband cigarettes (11,511,488 cigarettes), after they had conducted a series of home searches, searches in transportation vehicles, in certain markets or fairs and in duty-free shops.

According to a release of the Department of Information and Public Relations of MAI on Tuesday, the damage incurred by the seized cigarettes totalled 1,750,262 lei, out of which there was recovered an amount of 196,123 lei.
Most of the cigarettes confiscated by the police came from national suppliers, but also from local and regional ones. Following the specific operations conducted by the MAI structures, there were discovered six storage facilities and six groups of smugglers, 243 local suppliers, 15 regional and six national.