Tobacco smuggler found dead in Andorra

An alleged tobacco smuggler was found dead in the Pyrenean principality of Andorra, near the French border, we learned on Sunday from an Andorran source close to the investigation. This 38-year-old man, "African and residing in the south of France", according to this source, very probably slipped on a snowdrift and made a fatal fall near the Tristaina lakes, at about 2300 m above sea level, a few kilometers from the Ariège department.

The body was discovered Thursday and no one has so far come to claim it from the morgue. The Andorran police are investigating the circumstances of the smuggler's death, in particular to find out if he was alone or accompanied and if he was part of a smuggling tobacco network.

At the end of October 2018, a 20-year-old Algerian suspected of being a smuggler of contraband cigarettes was discovered dead from hypothermia by French customs officers in the Pyrénées-Orientales, less than 3 km from the Andorran city of Pas de la Casa.

He resided illegally in the south of France. Cigarette trafficking between France and Andorra is significant due to more favorable taxation on cigarette packs in the principality. The smugglers are often young people from Africa.