On the night of Tuesday to Wednesday, January 27, some 350 kg of cartons of cigarettes from Andorra were abandoned in the mountains by 25 smugglers after they were spotted by customs officials, according to
20 Minutes
.
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Twenty customs officers from the Ax-les-Thermes and Porta brigades had set up a high-altitude device on Tuesday evening to intercept the smugglers.
An operation which was crowned with success, since during the night the customs officers crossed the road of 25 individuals with more than suspicious cargo, specifies
20 Minutes
.
These men immediately fled at the sight of customs officers, leaving the equivalent of 18,000 packs of cigarettes in the middle of the mountain.
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The smugglers transported their merchandise in bags made especially for this operation.
The tobacco seized, whose value on the legal market is estimated at 180,000 euros, was probably intended for the Toulouse market, according to the daily.
“This smuggling of cigarettes is carried out by organized and determined criminal organizations. Usually it is an ant traffic, this shows that they do not hesitate to take risks, including that of being in the mountains in the middle of the night despite the difficult weather conditions ”
, indicated a spokesperson. from the regional customs office of Toulouse at
20 minutes.
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In November 2018, a young cigarette smuggler was found in full hypothermia at high altitude, near Pas-de-la-Case, in Andorra, before dying in a hospital in the region.