Thanks to a tip-off from the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), Greek authorities seized a container with 9,650,000 cigarettes in the port of Piraeus (Athens) last week. The smugglers had tried to pass the cigarettes off as suitcases.
OLAF alerted the Greek authorities when it identified the suspicious cargo, which was officially declared as suitcases and routed from China to Slovakia. As a result, the Greek Operational Coordination Centre (SEK), the national Customs Authorities and the Hellenic Coast Guard were able to find and seize 9,650,000 cigarettes that would have otherwise been smuggled into the EU. Initial information about the shipment was supplied to OLAF by the Chinese Anti-Smuggling Bureau.
Ville Itälä, Director-General of OLAF, said:...
"I congratulate our Greek colleagues on this successful operation and I’m pleased that OLAF played a pivotal role. Thanks to an excellent cooperation with the Greek authorities, we prevented a loss in excise duties and VAT that is estimated at around €2 million. The fight against cigarette smuggling has been an integral part of OLAF’s work for years now and continues in 2021."
To keep contraband cigarettes outside of EU borders, OLAF tracks suspicious consignments worldwide and gathers intelligence on the operators and means of transportation involved. OLAF works in close cooperation with the competent services in the EU Member States and third countries and acts as a coordination hub when required.
In 2020 alone, and despite the ongoing pandemic, OLAF helped seize a total of nearly 370 million cigarettes, preventing an estimated loss in public finances of roughly €74 million.