In the case investigated by the border police, under the coordination of the specialized prosecutor from the Prosecutor's Office attached to the High Court of Cassation and Justice, which concerned the destruction of a smuggling network of tobacco products, 22 people, suspected of committing several crimes: the production of excisable products subject to the warehousing regime, the possession by any person or the sale on Romanian territory of excisable products subject to marking, breaking of seals, forgery in documents under private signature, fraudulent crossing of the state border.
As a result of the hearings, the case prosecutor from the PÎCCJ ordered the detention of eight people. At the same time, two other people, detained as a result of the flagrant action of 16.08.2023, were presented to the court, being placed under house arrest.
We make it clear that, as a result of the criminal procedure activities carried out on 16 and 17.08.2023, by the border police, with the support of specialized workers from the Romanian Gendarmerie and the Dolj Regional Customs Directorate, the amount of approximately 10.5 tons was lifted tobacco, three improvised processing facilities, pyrotechnic products, two cars, a minibus, a 7.5 ton truck, three professional scales and sums of money.
We remind you that, on August 16 and 17, 2023, 23 searches were carried out in a criminal case regarding the acts committed by several Romanian and Bulgarian citizens who, starting in 2022, organized and introduced into the territory of Romania 64 transports that they had as their object almost 330 tons of unprocessed tobacco, for the purpose of processing it in various clandestine units.
The criminal group delivered tobacco from Bulgaria to Romania, using supporting documents for goods that falsely certified that the goods had external beneficiaries, in order to create fictitious commercial circuits that would mislead law enforcement authorities or by evading border control formalities.
From the research, it was established that the tobacco was delivered to beneficiaries in the area of Ilfov, Călăraşi and Dolj counties, later being processed in clandestine units, packaged and distributed throughout the country through e-commerce platforms.
The technical support was provided by the workers of the Special Operations Directorate within the IGPR. The whole action benefited from the support of the inspectors of the Bucharest Regional Customs Office - the Mobile Team Bureau, and the international cooperation activities were carried out with the support of OLAF - the European Anti-Fraud Office and SELEC - the South-East European Law Enforcement Center and the General Directorate of Combating Organized Crime in Bulgaria.
