Two men of undeclared nationality have been arrested in the Valencian region as 475,000 packets of contraband cigarettes were seized in an operation led by the National Police and the Tax Agency with help from the UK National Crime Agency (NCA).
The NCA monitored the shipment of the cigarettes from the United Arab Emirates to the port of Valencia, from where they were transported to a warehouse in Torrent. The contents had been officially declared as plastic boxes, and the two men were arrested with the goods next to them.
The container was opened by officers and behind the initial stash of plastic boxes, there were thousands of cigarettes with no Spanish tax labels on them. Investigations are continuing to identify further members of the cigarette smuggling gang.
