CAPTURES IN 2011 The border police seized 9.26 million packs of cigarettes

Last year, the employees of the border police impounded for the purpose of confiscation - by themselves or in cooperation with several other institutions - a number of approximately 9.26 million packs of cigarettes, worth about 50.5 million lei. More than half of them, namely 5.7 million packs, worth approximately 33.6 million lei, were the object of contraband, the representatives of the General Inspectorate of the Police (IGPF) said.

Also, 48 groups created for the purpose of cigarette smuggling were uncovered, with 435 individuals being identified.

Last year's captures were similar to those of 2010, when the Border Police seized about 9.12 million packs of cigarettes, with an approximate value of 42.8 million lei (5.42 million packs, worth about 30.47 million lei, were contraband).

In most cases, the cigarettes were found both at the border crossing points, hidden inside vehicles, as well as in the area overseen by the border police, near the border. The cigarettes were bought without accounting documents, and were intended to be sold on the Romanian market.

The means and methods used by the factions specializing in the transportation and sale of contraband cigarettes are varied, and are honed and constantly adapted to the measures taken by the authorities, as well as to the concrete circumstances of each operation.

The people involved mostly came from Romania, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine, and they were either fined or indicted, according to the provisions of the law.

The most heavily traficked brands of cigarettes were L&M, "Plugarul", "Doina", "Jin Ling", "Ronson", "Marble", "Monte Carlo" and "Marlboro".

According to the information of the IGPF, all types of vehicles are used to smuggle the cigarettes into the country, with 90% of them being cars.

It was found that in the mountainous area on the border with Ukraine, smugglers use carts and horses to carry the contraband cigarettes across the green border and boats to carry them across the blue border, mostly the ones with Serbia and the Republic of Moldova.

• The customs authority has seized 70 million cigarettes

Last year, the customs authority has seized over 70 million cigarettes, of which approximately 27 million were seized following the inspections conducted in the customs offices, about 20 million - following the inspection in the areas adjacent to the outside border and about 22 million as a result of traffic inspections, the representatives of the National Tax Administration Agency (ANAF) said.

According to them, following the investigations conducted in the customs offices, approximately 6.9 million cigarettes were seized on the border with Serbia, around 5.99 million pieces - on the border with the Republic of Moldova and about 4.345 million on the border with Ukraine. Approximately 10.5 million cigarettes were seized in the port of Constanţa.

The customs authority applied the provisions of The Government Emergency Ordinance no. 54/2010 which stipulates measures to fight tax evasion, concerning duty free shops, as well as those concerning the transportation and illegal possession of cigarettes by improving the border and traffic inspections, the representatives of the ANAF told us.

The customs teams also used canines to find contraband cigarettes. This year, the cooperation between the border police, the county police inspectorates, the DIICOT and the mobile gendarme units will be bolstered. Mobile teams and canines will see increased use in the surveillance and investigation of the border areas and the main road traffic nodes.

In order to fight and prevent cross border smuggling and to improve its techniques, methods and capabilities, the ANAF will improve its collaboration with the fiscal administrations and with the European institutions, according to the goals which it has set for itself for the 2012-2014 period: "For this purpose, the information sources will be expanded, their quality will be improved, and the ANAF will exchange information within Romania, as well as with the EU member states".