The Vaslui Border Police announced that they identified a criminal group smuggling cigarettes into Romania. Four Moldovans are suspected of forming part of this group. The cigarettes were parachuted from hang-gliders that fly at low altitude and cannot be detected by radars, IPN reports.
In a communiqué, the General Border Police Inspectorate of Romania says that before the contraband was brought into Romania, members of the group visited the places where other members were to parachute the parcels with cigarettes. The suspects entered Romania separately, with different vehicles that contained places for hiding the contraband. They purchased new mobile phones and used them only on the day they smuggled the cigarettes.
On the night of October 29, hang-gliders illegally entered the Romanian airspace two times, at short intervals. Four parcels with almost 8,000 packs of cigarettes of different brands with Moldovan excise stamps on them were parachuted from them near Viisoara commune of Vaslui county.
Two of the members of the group aged 35 and 42, whose duty was to collect the parcels, were caught by the border police. They will be under arrest for 24 hours and could be remanded in custody for 30 days.
