From: New Europe
A criminal court in the northern Italian city of Turin has sentenced several individuals to prison and ordered the seizure of millions of euros worth of assets as part of a major trans-national tobacco contraband case that has involved law enforcement officials for years after first being uncovered by the European Anti Fraud Office (OLAF) more than half a decade ago.
Europe’s anti-fraud investigators, better known by their French acronym OLAF, found that an international network of fictitious companies carried out illegal exports from the EU to destinations outside the bloc, while at the same time legally importing tobacco products from third countries which were then put into circulation in the EU without having to pay customs duties and taxes.
