Filenews 24 January 2023
Coordinated checks were carried out by members of the Department of Customs and Excise on 18 and 19/1/2023, on the luggage of passengers who would depart with flights from Larnaca Airport to UK airports. During the checks, luggage was found in which duty-free tobacco products were found and seized.
Specifically, on 18/01/2023, three cases were identified as follows:
In the baggage of a Greek Cypriot passenger, holder of a Cyprus passport, seventy packages of fifty grams of tobacco and twenty-four packages of two hundred pieces of cigarettes were found.
In the baggage of a passenger, holder of a British passport, seven packages of fifty grams of tobacco, six (packs of two hundred pieces of cigarettes and ten packs of twenty pieces of cigarettes) were found.
In the baggage of a Turkish Cypriot passenger, holder of a Cyprus passport, twenty-three packages of two hundred pieces of cigarettes were found.
On 19/1/2023, two bags of a Turkish Cypriot passenger, holder of a Cyprus passport, containing entirely cigarettes, were found. In total they contained one hundred and twenty-two packs of two hundred pieces of cigarettes.
From the Ayios Dometios barricade
In addition, on 21/1/2023, during the legal control of those passing through the Crossing Point of Agios Dometios, officers of the Department of Customs and Excise, located in a vehicle a Turkish Cypriot, holder of a Cypriot passport, and seized twenty-five packages of two hundred pieces of cigarettes and two hundred and twenty packages of fifty grams of tobacco. The vehicle used for the illegal transport of tobacco products to the free areas was also seized.
The suspects admitted that they bought the duty-free tobacco products from the occupied areas over which the Government of the Republic of Cyprus does not exercise effective control and illegally transported them to the free areas with a view to their transfer to the United Kingdom.
For all five cases, it was accepted for an out-of-court settlement of the offenses with the payment of the total monetary payment of nineteen thousand nine hundred euros (€19,900) and abandonment of the confiscated tobacco products. The seized vehicle was returned to its owner with the payment of a return of five hundred euros (€500).
