Smuggled cigarettes worth EUR 2 mln detained

Lithuanian customs and officers and border guards detained a shipment of smuggled cigarettes from Belarus, worth almost 2 million euros, on Monday.

According to the Customs Criminal Service, a Scania, driven by a Belarusian citizen, entered Raigardas checkpoints at around 1 p.m. on Monday and declared to be transporting a 20.5 ton shipment of wood via Lithuania to Poland.

Customs officers and border guards grew suspicious and they knocked on the wood and heard the sound typical of empty internal spaces.

A thorough check led to the discovery of a shipment of Belarusian cigarettes Minsk Capital MS stashed inside. Its total value with taxes estimated at 1.94 million euros.

The driver was detained for 48 hours and later released on bail and his documents were seized. He was told not to leave the country.