Police dismantle network selling tobacco between Spain and Portugal

THE National Police and the Guardia Civil, in collaboration with the National Republican Guard of Portugal, the Tax Agency and EUROPOL, have disbanded an organization dedicated to the fraudulent manufacture and sale of tobacco between Spain and Portugal.

As reported by Andalucia Informacion, according to both bodies, more than eleven tons of raw tobacco that was treated in different locations have been intervened to turn it into cigarettes. One of them was located in the province of Zamora, where the organization had established a logistics centre for the distribution of merchandise between Spain and Portugal which allowed it to receive the merchandise, thus making it difficult for the Portuguese authorities to control it.

Police cooperation between authorities from both countries made it possible to discover how a citizen of Portuguese nationality who was being investigated in his country of origin for similar events, maintaining a stable business relationship with the person in charge of the Zamora plant. As a consequence of all this, a joint operation was carried out in both countries, where 59 registrations have been carried out in Portugal and four in Spain.

In addition to raw tobacco, officers intervened various materials for its processing and packaging, as well as substances to flavour the tobacco, this tobacco being susceptible to being diverted for the clandestine manufacture of cigarettes, supposing significant damage to the Public Treasury. The person who had established an intermediate logistics distribution centre in a Zamora town is also charged with an alleged drug trafficking crime as a result ten kilograms of marijuana was discovered during the search of his home.