More than nine million contraband cigarettes found in truck registered in Lithuania

RIGA - The State Revenue Service (VID) officials found more than nine million contraband cigarettes in a truck registered in Lithuania, VID reported.

VID reported that customs police officials conducted customs control of a Lithuanian-registered truck with timber and discovered more than nine million cigarettes without excise labels.

The illegal cargo was discovered in customs control point at Ventspils before the truck boarded a ferry from Ventspils to Sweden. About 9,100,000 NZ Gold cigarettes without excise labels were found hidden in timber logs.

The estimated loss to the state budget is about EUR 1.5 million.

The container's shipper is a company in Lithuania, and the recipient is a company in Denmark.

A criminal procedure has been launched on a large scale contraband.

This year VID has launched 123 criminal procedures on illegal circulation of tobacco products and 62.6 million cigarettes and 42,017 kilograms of smoking tobacco have been confiscated.