Italian police seize large consignment of contraband cigarettes destined for Malta
One million euro in contraband cigarettes destined for Malta have been seized by Italian port authorities.
The cigarettes, sent from a warehouse in Alexandria, Egypt and bound for Malta via the Italian port of La Spezia, were discovered after Italian port police raided a container as it was unloaded and taken into a shed waiting to be transborded onto another ship which was destined for Malta.
According to Magistrate Giovanni Maddaleni from the La Spezia courts of justice who is leading the investigation, the large consignment of cigarettes was discovered inside a container which declared glues, and the bill of lading is addressed to a Maltese registered company.
Italian authorities have meanwhile contacted their Maltese counterparts and inititated joint investigations in collaboration with the European Union's anti-fraud office OLAF.
According to Magistrate Maddaleni, the fraud in tax and other excise ammounts to hundreds of thousands of euro.