Surprise Raid Nets Players in Duty-free Smuggling Ring
A case involving a town mayor, customs officials and border police opens a window on the interworkings of the illegal cigarette trade in Romania.
OCCRP Romania
The Financial Guard’s siege on cigarette smugglers
The agency is seizing thousands of cigarettes and imposing fines on offenders, but results are uneven among counties.
Who owns the duty-free shops?
Nine private companies with ties to public officials and organized crime make enormous profits moving millions of packs of cigarettes. Both the authorities and manufacturers of legal cigarettes blame duty-free companies for the lion’s share of smuggling on the Romanian borders.
Allegations of a €1 million bribe to keep duty-free shops open
Duty-free shops remain open after intrigue in the Romanian Parliament over efforts to close them. Cigarette smuggling is so profitable that smugglers offer bribes of up to €1 million to public officials to protect the illegal business.
Romanian public revenue up in smoke of smuggled tobacco
Cigarette smugglers big and small use an array of tricks to reap big profits on illegal tobacco entering the country from Ukraine , Moldova and Serbia.
The Eastern Cigarettes Underground
In a rundown warehouse in Ukraine near the Romanian border, an undercover reporter seeks to enter the illegal cigarette trade. It is surprisingly easy.
“What kind of cigarettes? Saint George, something else? How many boxes or sleeves?” asks the warehouse owner. There are no questions asked and no papers needed.