The customs control and surveillance teams of the Romanian Customs Authority participated, between 7 and 16 December 2022, in the Operation called Joint Action Day (JAD) Finestra 2, under the coordination of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (FRONTEX), occasion on which 2.3 million cigarettes and over 3 tones of raw tobacco have been discovered, according to Agerpres.

„Between 7 and 16 December 2022, the customs inspectors within the customs surveillance and control teams of the Romanian Customs Authority have participated in the Joint Action Day Finestra 2 Operation, under the coordination of FRONTEX (the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union), which aimed to combat criminality at the external land border of east and south-east of the European Union, with the main focus on combating criminality in the area of smuggling tobacco and tobacco products,” a press release issued by the Romanian Customs Authority informs.

The operation was co-led by Romania (the customs authority, the national police and the border police) and the Republic of Moldova. Furthermore, representatives of five European agencies/international organizations (FRONTEX, EUROPOL, OLAF, SELEC, INTERPOL) also participated in the operation.

As a result of the intensification of control actions at the external border of east and south-east of the European Union, during the operation, 2.3 million contraband cigarettes and over 3 tons of raw tobacco were found.

Within this operation, the customs surveillance and control teams of the Romanian Customs Authority seized a number of 110,300 cigarettes and 1,085 liters of alcoholic beverages.

Such actions are to be organised in the future as well, together with the other law enforcement authorities of Romania, in view of combating the illegal smuggling of tobacco and tobacco products at the European Union borders.

Agerpres