Illegal trade in Moldovan cigarettes in Romania has decreased, the downward trend being confirmed by statistics and by the most recent study in the field. The analysis of the illicit cigarette market of Romania, carried out by the research company Novel Research, shows the share of Moldovan tobacco products declined by 8.1 percentage points, IPN reports, with reference to the Customs Service.

Customs Service vice director Grigore Ionitsov said the tobacco sector is the second largest taxpayer to the state budget. Consequently, legal trade also means the collection of the projected amounts into the budget. To strengthen the institutional and operational capacities to fight this scourge, the number of officers specialized in preventing illegal trade in cigarettes and of special technical devices was increased.

According to the Customs Service, 78% of the over 207,000 cigarettes seized this year were identified by sniffer dogs. The Service plans to raise the number of sniffer dogs able to detect tobacco products.