Millions of cigarettes and tons of tobacco: Customs officials also discovered illegal goods in Prague
During the event called Capello in Pilsen and Prague, the second customs office more than six million cigarettes, two tons of tobacco, two tons of tobacco waste, components for cigarette production, a cigarette production line, a tobacco cutter and two trucks that were used to distribute manufactured goods. In this case, they calculated the damage caused to excise duty at more than 43 million crowns.
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Although the perpetrators often changed the places of delivery of manufactured cigarettes to conceal their illegal business, the customs managed to map their movement. They exposed an international group of people who traded in illegally produced cigarettes in the territory of several countries. “They detained 13 persons of foreign nationality, of which 12 persons were charged and three are being prosecuted in custody,” Kaňková informed.
At the first event with the cover name Kolosseum, they uncovered customs tax evasion in the amount of at least 130 million crowns. During the inspections, they found a warehouse in Olomouc and a complete production line and technology for the production of cigarettes, a packaging line for cigarette boxes, a tobacco dryer and a diesel generator for the production of electricity.
The biggest case
The director of the customs administration, Marek Šimandl, said at a press conference on Thursday that over the past ten years, they have registered 26 criminal cases related to the illegal production of tobacco products, involving almost 115 million cigarettes and more than 380 tons of tobacco. “The Kolloseum case in particular is the biggest in the area of detecting illegal productions for many years, even on a pan-European scale,” he said. Customs cooperated with tobacco companies operating in the Czech Republic on the case.
The equipment and organization of the group were extraordinary according to customs. “Customs officers have not yet encountered such a powerful and modern production facility,” customs spokeswoman Martina Kaňková said in a press release. The line managed to produce up to 5,000 cigarettes per minute. The suspects behaved very cautiously and conspiratorially. “As a cover load, he uses packaging from confectionery and sweets with an Italian description, which was found in the factory,” the spokeswoman added.
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The deputy director of the investigation section of the customs administration, Michal Šimůnek, told reporters that the group’s cost of producing one cigarette was five pennies.
During the raid, 14 people were detained, of which four are Czechs, eight Ukrainians, one Bulgarian and one Romanian. All of them were charged by the police with tax evasion, they are in custody and face five to ten years.
During inspections by customs operators, over 17 million cigarettes, 25 tons of tobacco and tobacco waste, dozens of pallets of components for the production of cigarettes, such as filters, paper, mouthpiece paper and a large amount of packaging material. Cash in various currencies was also found, amounting to approximately 3.8 million crowns. Considering the amount of confiscated material, soldiers and firefighters are also threatened to clean up the area and take it away.
Both cases are supervised by the Municipal Prosecutor’s Office in Prague.