The Fiscal Action Unit of the National Republican Guard (GNR) arrested two men, aged 58 and 61, on Wednesday for fraudulent introduction into consumption and seized 250,000 cigarettes in Murça, Vila Real district.
“During a preventive inspection aimed at controlling the circulation of goods, the Guarda officers, with support from the Traffic Detachment of Vila Real, approached a light goods vehicle traveling on the A4 highway, which was carrying 12,500 packs of tobacco, packed in 25 cardboard boxes,” the security force disclosed in a statement released on Thursday.
Following the action, the GNR determined that the manufactured tobacco “did not bear the special stamp required for its possession, circulation, and marketing in national territory, and the suspects did not present any document justifying its legal production, circulation, and introduction into consumption.”
“The commercial value of the seized tobacco amounts to 64,500 euros, and its illicit commercialization would have caused a loss to the Portuguese State of about 38,500 euros in Special Consumption Tax (IEC),” the statement further informs.
The suspects were detained, and the facts were communicated to the Vila Real Judicial Court.
