Customs officers in the French Pyrenees, near Ax, not far from Andorra, tracking down cigarette smugglers.

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RAYMOND ROIG / AFP

  • During the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, more than 350 kg of cartons of cigarettes from Andorra, or 18,000 packages, were abandoned by smugglers in the middle of the mountains.

  • Customs officers put to flight 25 marchers conveying more than 18,000 euros of tobacco intended for resale on the Toulouse market.

In the Pyrenees, at a certain altitude, you can meet ibex, marmots and sometimes hikers.

But rarely in the middle of the night and at altitude.

These night outings are generally the work not of mountain lovers, but of cigarette traffickers who take the crossroads between Andorra and France to avoid customs controls, not far from the national road 20.

Like the one that took place last night.

Twenty customs officers from the Ax-les-Thermes and Porta brigades have set up a high-altitude device to intercept smugglers.

An operation which bore fruit, since during the night, they crossed the road of 25 marchers with the cargo more than suspicious.

These men fled at the sight of customs officials and left in the mountains more than 350 kg of cartons of cigarettes from Andorra, or 18,000 packages.

Toulouse market

The smugglers carried the goods in specially made bags, like sherpas.

This tobacco, representing a value of 180,000 euros on the legal market, was probably intended for the Toulouse market.

“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 ”, indicates a spokesperson for the regional customs directorate of Toulouse.

In November 2018, a young cigarette smuggler was found hypothermic in altitude near Pas-de-la-Case, before dying in an Andorran hospital.

Society

How many cigarettes can you really bring back from Andorra, 40 or 300?

Miscellaneous

Pyrénées-Orientales: The gendarmes discover 130 cartons of cigarettes in the trunk of a stolen car

  • Cigarette

  • Smuggling

  • Customs

  • Traffic

  • Andorra

  • Miscellaneous

  • Toulouse

  • Society