In a truck that was outside the electronic transport monitoring system, they found 14 million illegal cigarettes. On the same day, they also seized a smaller shipment of tobacco products and closed down a small moonshine distillery.
In the vicinity of Wyszków, Customs and Fiscal Service officers were verifying the correctness of reports to the Electronic Transport Supervision System (SENT). They were interested in a semi-trailer tractor, which was not in any of the available geolocation systems. The stopped driver explained that he did not have any documents, because at the request of a colleague he was only taking the car to a nearby workshop.
“The semi-trailer contained wrapped pallets with cardboard boxes. After opening one of them, it turned out that it contained cigarette packs without Polish excise stamps. The driver stated that he did not know what he was transporting. Before unloading, the service dog Diuna confirmed with his behavior that the boxes contained tobacco products. The semi-trailer contained as many as 693 thousand packs, which is almost 14 million pieces of illegal cigarettes. If they were to hit the market, the budget losses are estimated at PLN 18.5 million,” the Mazovian National Revenue Administration reported in a statement.
During questioning, the driver admitted to committing a tax offence, but refused to provide explanations. The proceedings are ongoing.
80 thousand cigarettes from illegal production
Earlier that same day, SCS officers and border guards from the Braniewo facility stopped a car in Płońsk County for a road check. It turned out that the 39-year-old driver from Sierpc County was transporting illegal cigarettes. 80,000 cigarettes from illegal production were seized. Their value is over PLN 65,000, and the potential losses to the State Treasury were estimated at over PLN 100,000.
Moonshine “factory”
In the morning, however, on the premises of one of the properties in Zgierz County, officers found alcohol distillation equipment and 10 plastic barrels containing 900 liters of mash. This amount could have been used to produce 200 liters of pure alcohol. 50 liters had already been poured into glass bottles. The owner of this “factory” was questioned and admitted to committing a fiscal offense.
Main image source: Mazovia KAS