Oldenburg Public Prosecutor’s Office Braunschweig Public Prosecutor’s Office Hannover Customs Investigation Department JOINT PRESS RELEASE No 25 of 28.11.2008 Hannover Customs Investigation Department concludes biggest investigation yet into organised cigarette smuggling Oldenburg Public Prosecutor’s Office: ‘Criminal organisation broken up’ Enquiries directed in Germany against 79 suspects 28 arrests made Over 500 000 cigarettes seized across Europe €108 million in lost tax revenues The German customs authorities have succeeded, after a two-year joint effort involving investigators in Belgium and Greece, in smashing a criminal organisation specialised in cigarette smuggling, seizing a total of 640 million untaxed cigarettes throughout Europe. The enquiry, which has now been concluded and in which 79 suspects were investigated in Germany alone, was led by the Oldenburg Public Prosecutor’s Office. A separate set of investigations by the Braunschweig Public Prosecutor’s Office is still ongoing. In 2007 German customs confiscated 465 million cigarettes in all (compared with 415 million in 2006). The overall quantity of 640 million cigarettes seized in the course of a single sweep underlines the potential of organised crime gangs. It is made up of 260 million cigarettes seized in Germany and a further 380 million in neighbouring European countries. This order of magnitude testifies to the not inconsiderable risk to the exchequer in the EU Member States concerned. If the seized cigarettes had been taxed normally, they would have brought in over €100 million in taxes. The market power of the criminal gang in question also constituted a serious threat to the legal trade. It was able to place even unknown brands on the (black) market in a very short space of time. Besides the Jin Ling brand, which is well known among cognoscenti, the perpetrators also smuggled in the less well known brands Park, Medallion and Memphis. The enquiries by the Hannover Customs Investigation Department began with a number of swoops by the customs and police services. An analysis of the results and a comparison with findings from other criminal enquiries quickly pointed the Lower Saxony investigators in the direction of an organised crime syndicate. Related undercover investigations led to the Bielefeld area. Seven illegal consignments from Greece were traced back to three of those subsequently arrested. By the time the enquiries were concluded in spring 2007, custodial sentences totalling nine years and three months had been handed down. The fact that the cigarettes originated in intermediate storage facilities in Greece was a common thread in all further investigations. This led to another 20 potential storage or transhipment facilities being identified across Germany. At least 69 consignments totalling 169 million cigarettes passed through these facilities in Germany. Another success story is the exposure of a real nerve centre of the illegal cigarette trade in Belgium. Belgian and German investigators have succeeded in uncovering a number of caches of smuggled cigarettes in the Liège/Gent areas. These were used to supply among others the German black market with contraband entering the EU via Greece. An operation carried out in April 2008 in conjunction with German customs investigators led to a record 101 million cigarettes being seized. Nine people were arrested in Belgium and four storage facilities were raided. In June 2008 a severe blow was struck against the Greek middlemen. Using European arrest warrants issued in Germany, Greek investigators apprehended four suspects in the Athens area. These were then handed over to the German authorities. Representatives of the Hannover Customs Investigation Department and the Oldenburg Public Prosecutor’s Office were present during six searches in Greece. At the same time as these measures were being taken in Greece, further suspects were being taken into custody in Germany. A success on this scale can be achieved only through close, trusting cooperation between the investigating authorities in all the countries concerned. During the two years that it lasted, the Europe-wide investigation was also supported by the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF). Final consumers of the hot goods ran risks of quite a different nature. A substantial proportion of the criminal organisation’s income was accounted for by fake versions of established, well-known brands. Such fakes, which are often scarcely distinguishable to the naked eye, can give rise to additional health risks owing to the dubious conditions under which they are manufactured, the tobaccos of unknown provenance and other possible ingredients. .