Last year, the employees of the border police impounded for the purpose of confiscation - by themselves or in cooperation with several other institutions - a number of approximately 9.26 million packs of cigarettes, worth about 50.5 million lei. More than half of them, namely 5.7 million packs, worth approximately 33.6 million lei, were the object of contraband, the representatives of the General Inspectorate of the Police (IGPF) said.
Also, 48 groups created for the purpose of cigarette smuggling were uncovered, with 435 individuals being identified.
Last year's captures were similar to those of 2010, when the Border Police seized about 9.12 million packs of cigarettes, with an approximate value of 42.8 million lei (5.42 million packs, worth about 30.47 million lei, were contraband).
In most cases, the cigarettes were found both at the border crossing points, hidden inside vehicles, as well as in the area overseen by the border police, near the border. The cigarettes were bought without accounting documents, and were intended to be sold on the Romanian market.
The means and methods used by the factions specializing in the transportation and sale of contraband cigarettes are varied, and are honed and constantly adapted to the measures taken by the authorities, as well as to the concrete circumstances of each operation.
The people involved mostly came from Romania, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine, and they were either fined or indicted, according to the provisions of the law.
The most heavily traficked brands of cigarettes were L&M, "Plugarul", "Doina", "Jin Ling", "Ronson", "Marble", "Monte Carlo" and "Marlboro".
According to the information of the IGPF, all types of vehicles are used to smuggle the cigarettes into the country, with 90% of them being cars.
It was found that in the mountainous area on the border wi