Cigarette smuggling worth $428,000 intercepted in Concordia: driver remanded in custody
The Federal Police stopped a lorry in Entre Ríos with 300,000 packets of illegal cigarettes. The driver was charged and remanded in preventive custody.
Lorry with smuggled cigarettes intercepted on Route 14
A Iveco lorry with semi-trailer was stopped on Tuesday, 27 October, at around 19:25, on the National Route 14 near Concordia, Entre Ríos, according to infobae.com. On board were 300,000 packets of cigarettes of foreign origin, with a provisional valuation of USD 428,293.
The operation was carried out by agents from the Federal Operational Unit Division Concordia of the Argentine Federal Police (PFA), who were conducting vehicle checks at the intersection with National Route 015. The vehicle came from Bernardo de Irigoyen, in Misiones province, and was allegedly headed to Buenos Aires province.
Inconsistent documentation and customs scanner
When asked for his papers, the driver—also from Misiones—presented documentation and declared that he was transporting trainers, sheets, electric kettles and gourds. The inconsistencies detected aroused suspicion and prompted intervention by the Federal Court of Concordia, presided over by judge Analía Ramponi, with the Criminal Secretariat of Alan Bergoldt.
By court order, the vehicle was transferred to ARCA-Customs facilities, where a cargo scanner allowed inspection of the container without opening it. The images revealed the presence of packages consistent with cigarette boxes, which led to a request for new authorisation to physically review the cargo.
Discovery: 600 boxes of foreign brands
Upon opening the container, officers found 600 boxes of cigarettes: 550 of the Gift brand and 50 Coronado, equivalent to 30,000 cartons or 300,000 packets. All the goods were seized, along with the lorry, semi-trailer, container, the driver's mobile telephone and documentation of interest to the investigation.
Among the documents examined was an alleged National Gendarmerie report whose authenticity is under investigation. Investigators are seeking to determine whether that documentation was used to justify the transfer and to establish how the transport from Misiones to Buenos Aires was organised.
Preventive custody and search in Misiones
Following the discovery, the Federal Court ordered the detention and solitary confinement of the driver, who was initially charged in proceedings categorised as aiding and abetting smuggling. On Thursday, 29 October, after two days in detention, the man was questioned by the federal court of Concordia and it was ordered that he remain deprived of his liberty under preventive custody.
The investigation also resulted in a search in Misiones province, although details of the results of that procedure have not yet emerged.
The case is being processed before the Federal Court of Concordia with the involvement of the Federal Prosecutor's Office headed by Francisco Bertrand. The investigation aims to establish the scope of the operation, the origin of the cigarettes and the possible involvement of other persons in the transfer and distribution of the merchandise.
Source: Google News AR — Buenos Aires