A 36-year-old Turkish Cypriot ended up in handcuffs after being caught with his vehicle loaded with undeclared cigarettes and tobacco.
According to the Customs Department, department officials were informed on Monday, November 2, by members of the Larnaca Special Duties Unit (Pyla Special Duties Unit) that following a search of a 26-year-old Turkish Cypriot’s vehicle in the Pyla area of the Larnaca district, large quantities of untaxed tobacco products had been discovered.
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Specifically, while officers were en route to the Oroklini Police Station, where the vehicle had been towed, a total of 150 cartons—each containing 200 cigarettes—were counted and seized, tobacco for hand-rolled cigarettes weighing a total of 68 kilograms and 400 grams, and tobacco for hookahs weighing a total of 62 kilograms, whose packaging did not bear warnings about the dangers of smoking in Greek and Turkish, nor did it include the security feature or the unique traceability code, indicating that they were duty-free.
The suspect was arrested for offenses committed in flagrante delicto, and this morning he was brought before the Larnaca District Court, which issued an order for his three-day detention. The confiscated tobacco products will undergo the prescribed destruction procedure.
The case is under further investigation by Larnaca Customs in cooperation with the Cyprus Anti-Smuggling Organization (OPE) as part of joint efforts to combat the smuggling of tobacco products originating from theoccupied areas of the Republic of Cyprus
