Two male citizens of Romania and a Moldovan woman were arrested on Moldova’s territory for smuggling a considerable quantity of cigarettes. These are suspected of intending to take 200 boxes with 500 packs of cigarettes each out of Moldova and of selling these in Spain. On the EU market, the merchandise costs over €120,000, IPN reports.

According to the head of the prosecution body of the Chisinau Police Division Veaceslav Manoli, three Spanish citizens at the start of March came to Moldova to meet the two Romanian men who work as truck drivers. A woman from Moldova was also involved in the scheme. The cigarettes that were to be smuggled to Spain were hidden in a semi-trailer of a truck carrying sacks of sugar.

Alexei Bacos, head of the General Police Inspectorate’s Economic Fraud Division, stated that the brand of the contraband cigarettes wasn’t registered in Moldova. It is presumed that the cigarettes were counterfeited.

Prosecutor Victor Cazacu noted that the two Romanian men and the Moldovan woman were arrested for 30 days, as of March 10. They refused to cooperate with the prosecution bodies and plead not guilty, asserting that the cigarettes were loaded onto the truck by third persons.

The Romanian citizens will not be extradited and will be held accountable in accordance with the legislation of the Republic of Moldova. They face three to ten years in jail and a fine of up to 500,000 lei.

With respect to the Spanish citizens, the prosecution bodies of Moldova cooperate with the International Police Cooperation Center in order to establish their involvement in this case of smuggling.