Tobacco smuggling up 242% this year

CUSTOMS officials have seized 151 tonnes of black market cigarettes’ – up 241% on last year.

The rising prise of a packet and increasing number of checks on borders and the post are behind the figure according to a spokesman for the customs agency.

“The expansion of trafficking through the post has grown in line with the number of long distance sales from tobacco firms – over the last four years they have come from an increasing number of countries,” said the spokesman.

According to Le Figaro, checks in the Ile-de-France department picked up eight tonnes of illegal cigarettes in the post.

Two major seizures took place on lorries bound for Great Britain. On April 4 and 9, customs officers at Calais seized 11.4 tonnes of cigarettes in two lorries coming from Belgium waiting to cross the Channel. They were hidden among boxes of bread and patisseries.

At the end of July 4.3 tonnes were seized at Cherbourg in a lorry officially carrying kitchen ventilation units.