The cartons of cigarettes seized thanks to the Franco-Andorran collaboration.
-
General Directorate of Customs of Toulouse
Smugglers on foot, across the mountains, picked up by accomplices by car… Tobacco trafficking from Andorra is a prosperous activity, Covid-19 or not.
And the Ariège valley is the main axis for transporting tax-free goods from the Pyrenean Principality to Toulouse.
The regional customs directorate of the Pink City indicates on Tuesday that around 349 kg of tobacco had been intercepted in recent weeks thanks to the Franco-Andorran collaboration, reactivated last September.
In detail, 122 kg were taken by the Andorran service of Antifrau.
As for the customs brigade of Ax-les-Thermes, it seized between February 18 and 28 some 227 kg of cigarettes, the equivalent of more than 1,135 cartridges, alone or associated with the units of Bourg-Madame and Porta , in the Pyrénées-Orientales.
Seizures on the increase
Cross-border “hikers”, the little hands of traffic, are watched and sometimes intercepted by night patrols, equipped with specific outfits and thermal binoculars.
In 2020, 15,831 tonnes of contraband tobacco were seized in Occitania, according to customs officials.
This represents an increase of 5% compared to 2019.
Miscellaneous
Pyrenees: In the middle of the night, 25 smugglers abandon 18,000 packets of cigarettes in the middle of the mountain
Society
How many cigarettes can you really bring back from Andorra, 40 or 300?
Toulouse
Smuggling
Pyrenees
Andorra
Tobacco