From: Famagusta Gazette
TURKISH CYPRIOT authorities have arrested at least 15 suspected members of a massive cigarette smuggling ring operating from occupied Famagusta port.
According to reports, eleven containers stuffed with cigarette cartons, with a value of €100,000 have already left Famagusta to unknown destinations, with an estimated 350 million illegal cigarettes still being sought by authorities.
Spain, Greece and Italy are the main destinations for the illegal cigarettes, according to Havadis Daily, which also claims a ship caught smuggling cigarettes earlier this month is owned by a member of Syrian president Bashar al Assad’s family.
The raid on the Syrian ship named ‘Sirena’ was perceived as ‘blow to the money resources of Assad’.
It is suspected that these cigarettes are either being used to pay military salaries or being sold at a higher price, thereby generating profit used to fund al-Assad’s regime.
The cigarettes, which “legally” come to occupied Famagusta, are reportedly produced in Poland and China and have no brand.
Havadis also claims that around twenty firms are using the port as a base for smuggling
According to the paper, the smuggling of cigarettes had been carried out through the government-controlled area of Cyprus, but after the accession to the European Union and often controls exerted by the Interpol, the smugglers were directed to the occupied area of the island, which became an attractive place for this issue, because it is outside the international law.
For this reason, many Greek, Romanian and Spanish businessmen have allegedly established offices at Famagusta port during the past few years and direct their smuggling from there.
Havadis adds that cigarettes of various brands are imported to the “free trade area” of occupied Famagusta port in order to be re-exported.
They are stored up in the occupied port and when a buyer is found they are loaded in freight ships in order to be re-exported.
The EU’s eastern border is the place of choice for cigarette smugglers, who can make easy profits from the price differences with Ukraine, Russia and other Eastern countries. A pack of premium cigarettes costs €5.26 in Belgium, €3.41 in Poland, €1.33 in Ukraine and less than €1.74 in Russia, and less than €1 in Belarus.
