The driver, from Moldova, was stopped by customs officers in the early hours of January 17th on Route nationale 2 near Soissons.
During the inspection of the driver’s Romanian-registered HGV, officers found that the documents associated with the transport referred to a load of disposable plates.
According to a report by France’s custom office, the driver showed “signs of nervousness” while the checks were being conducted.
After inspecting the documents, the officers then began examining the trailer. That led to the discovery of 5.2 million cigarettes weighing 5.2 tonnes.
The driver was unable to present proof of movement regarding the cigarettes and was immediately taken into custody.
Besides being smuggled into France, the Marlboro-branded cigarettes were also found to be counterfeit.
The goods were seized and the driver was promptly taken to court.
French newspaper L’Union writes that the lorry driver told the court he was unaware he had been hauling counterfeit goods.
“I did not know that there were boxes of cigarettes. I was naive , I thought I was just transporting polystyrene [plates] to Spain. I didn’t think I had illegal merchandise,” the Moldovan was quoted as saying.
The L’Union report adds that the court heard of how on January 11, the trucker had left Moldova to fly to Amsterdam before being driven to Brussels to pick up the truck and a phone.
He was then instructed to drive to Beauvais, where the goods were loaded.
When challenged as to why he didn’t check the load, the Moldovan, who was said to be close to tears, told the court:
“I thought I was going to have problems if I checked the already sealed truck. I only followed the instructions I had received by phone as I went along. I was very wrong – this is the first time that I have found myself in trouble with the law.”
The customs officer present at the hearing was not in a charitable mood, however. He told those gathered at the court:
“He had no proof of the origin of the goods. He didn’t check his load, he didn’t have a work contract or a fixed route. He therefore has no proof of his good faith. The value of the seized goods is estimated at 2.7 million euros”
The prosecution demanded the lorry driver be given a 3-year suspended prison sentence plus a fine.
The lorry driver’s lawyer considered this to be harsh, telling the court:
“We are talking about a driver and not a man at the head of this trafficking. Three years is a long time just for wanting to work and feed your family. He may have been a little naive, but for him it was basic work.”
In the end, the suspended sentence was shortened to 2 years. However, the truck driver was still fined a whopping €100,000 – an amount he could struggle to ever pay back.
As reported by actu.fr, the local customs department believes the cigarettes were intended for sale in Paris. It is thought the cigarettes cost about €1 to make per packet and would have been flogged at a price of around €5 – potentially netting a profit of up to €1m.
In a joint statement, Bruno Le Maire, Minister of Economy, Finance and Recovery, and Gabriel Attal, Minister Delegate in charge of Public Accounts, said:
“This remarkable seizure of smuggled tobacco illustrates the active role of the customs services which daily implement their skills and means to fight against tobacco trafficking. We congratulate the mobilization of the customs and customs officers of Nogent Sur Oise for not leaving the field open to criminal networks and protecting our territory and our fellow citizens.”
The statement added:
“In the first 10 months of 2022, French customs officers already reached more than 600 tonnes of contraband tobacco seized (401 t in 2021). This permanent commitment illustrates the fight led by Customs, border and goods administration, against all illicit trafficking”.
Regular readers of Trans.INFO may recall a similar case from 2019, also in France, whereby a lorry driver was fined an incredible €3.8m for transporting counterfeit goods from China.
Following an appeal, however, the fine was reduced to €11,000.