Smuggled cigarettes worth EUR 1.9 mln found in Germany-bound truck in Lithuania

  • 2022-08-02
  • BNS/TBT Staff

VILNIUS – Lithuanian customs officers have found a shipment of smuggled cigarettes, worth approximately 1.86 million euros, inside a truck, which arrived in Lithuania from Belarus.

Some 1,000 boxes, or 500,000 packs, of Belarusian NZ Gold Super Slim cigarettes were hidden under the declared cargo, the Customs Criminal Service said on Tuesday.

A DAF truck driven by a Belarusian citizen entered Lithuania’s Raigardas border checkpoint from Belarus at approximately 8 p.m. on July 30. The driver told customs officers that he was taking a shipment of 14.4 tons of vermiculite from Kazakhstan to Germany via Lithuania.

However, officers found smuggled cigarettes hidden under the bags during an X-ray check of the shipment.

“Cigarettes are worth approximately 1.86 million euros,” the Customs Criminal Service said.

The driver was detained for 48 hours and Kaunas Regional Prosecutor's Office opened a pre-trial investigation into smuggling.

On Monday, Kaunas District Court adopted a decision to detain for two months the Belarusian citizen who drove the truck.