Large smuggling thwarted in the port of Gdansk

During two joint actions, officers of the CSEB and the Fund for the Protection of the Treasury took over 15 million cigarettes worth about PLN 11 million and over 20 tons of tobacco, the press officer of the Central Investigation Bureau of the Police, Iwona Jurkiewicz, told PAP. State Treasury losses could reach almost PLN 27 million.

According to PAP CBSP, the first of the activities was carried out in the Port of Gdańsk. The action was attended by police officers from the Board of Directors of the Central Investigation Bureau of the Police in Gdańsk together with officers of the Gdańsk Chamber of Fiscal Administration.

“The services selected a container that came from China on one of the ships. The cargo was to officially contain kitchen components and spare parts, but after opening it turned out that inside there were cartons filled with cigarettes without Polish excise tax signs. – has informed comrade Jurkiewicz.

She added that after a thorough check of the container almost 15 million cigarettes worth almost 11 million PLN were found. According to the investigators, the cargo was supposed to go to Ukraine. It is estimated that the State Treasury would lose even 17 million zlotys on this.

The container with smuggled cigarettes was seized at the beginning of August. With this impressive disclosure, risk analysis and mobile scanning equipment of the Tax Administration Chamber in Gdańsk played a key role once again. The container containing officially kitchen components and spare parts was inspected at the beginning of August this year. The suspicious cargo arrived at the Port of Gdansk from China and was to be delivered to a Ukrainian company.

The container was selected for inspection on the basis of a risk analysis of the container ship’s manifesto and then it was sent for detailed inspection. After the container was opened, it was found to be almost fully filled with tobacco products in cardboard boxes.

The next action took place in the Łódź Province. This time joint actions were carried out by police officers from the Board of Directors of the CBSP in Łódź and officers of the Customs and Tax Office in Łódź. During the action, over 20 tons of tobacco was found in one of the warehouses in the Zgierz district.

“During the search of the warehouses, 99 cartons filled with tobacco drought and 47 bags of smoking tobacco were discovered in one of them, in total over 20 tons. They also discovered the tobacco cutting and drying machines and the equipment and elements of the cigarette production line. – has informed comrade Jurkiewicz.

As she added in another room, matrices for the production of cigarette packets and 10 pallets of ready-made packaging with counterfeit trademarks of one of the known tobacco brands were discovered. “In this case, the possible exposure of the state budget due to non-payment of due taxes is estimated at nearly PLN 9.5 million. – has informed the CBSP.

In total – in both cases – the State Treasury could lose even 26.5 million PLN. (PAP)

Marcin Chomiuk (PAP), rel (KAS)
translation: Krystian Wyrzykowski