Six held for smuggling largest haul of contraband cigarettes into Latvia yet

Officers of the Latvian customs police have detained six suspects for smuggling almost 33 million illegal cigarettes from Russia into Latvia, the Latvian tax authority informed Wednesday.

This is the largest haul of contraband cigarettes seized in Latvia so far, the State Revenue Service said, noting that should the cigarettes end up in the black market the fiscal damage to the Latvian budget would have reached some 4.9 million euros.

The suspects detained in connection with the case include three customs officers, one border guard and two drivers, the tax authority said.

The illegal cigarettes were seized on June 2 from two trucks as they were crossing the Russian-Latvian border at the Terehovo-Ludza control point. The documents drivers produced during checks at the border turned out to be false. Endit