14.5 tonnes of smuggled cigarettes intercepted in Odesa, Ukraine thanks to OLAF tip-off

Tyres or cigarettes? Earlier this week, the Ukrainian State Customs Service inspected a cargo travelling from India to Ukraine after OLAF provided them with a lead on the shipment’s suspicious nature – it seemed unlikely that the goods involved were indeed ‘’pneumatic rubber tyres’’ as claimed by the official documentation.

As it turned out, the cargo was in fact a smuggling attempt of no less than 13.2 million cigarettes – the equivalent of around 660,000 packs. The total weight of the cigarettes was over 14.5 tonnes. Needless to say, the corresponding excise duties had not been paid.

The intervention was possible thanks to the information that OLAF relayed from Indian Customs to the Ukrainian authorities.