Ten tonnes of tobacco seized in Larnaca, six arrested

Authorities arrested six men on Monday in connection with the largest illegal tobacco bust in Cyprus, comprising 10 tonnes worth €2 million in unpaid taxes.

It is believed to be the biggest haul so far in Cyprus.

The tobacco was laid out on the floor of a warehouse in Aradippou in Larnaca when it was raided by authorities.

A joint operation between the customs office and police, they entered the warehouse at about 12:30pm where one 35-year-old Cypriot was arrested. He is reportedly refusing to cooperate and police do not yet know if he is the owner of the warehouse or the tobacco.

Customs spokesman Christos Christou said: “Five people of African descent were found and there are serious indicators they are illegally in Cyprus.”

The five individuals were also arrested. All six will appear in court on Tuesday.

The dry tobacco was laid out across the floor along with packages of cigarettes of a brand that cannot be found in Cyprus.

According to Christou, they believe the tobacco came from Bangladesh and customs duty was not paid, but investigations are still ongoing.

Equipment to roll cigarettes was also found in the warehouse.

In April this year almost 10 million cigarettes were seized by Customs found in a container imported from Singapore.

The cigarettes were found by Limassol port employees during a routine check to verify the contents of the container. The shipment was supposed to contain synthetic grass. Instead officials found 1,025 boxes containing 9.6 million cigarettes in cartons.

The tax on the cigarettes was estimated by the authorities at €1.68m.

There have been numerous other – but smaller – incidents of cigarette smuggling since tobacco prices were almost doubled at the end of 2012.