Smuggling from Egypt

Record: 170,000 cigarettes discovered by customs officers

Hundreds of thousands of cigarettes were intercepted by the customs officers.(Bild: Josef Poyer)

Customs officers at Vienna Airport made a major seizure of historic dimensions: on October 31, three smugglers from Cairo were stopped with a total of 852 cartons of cigarettes in their luggage!

The customs officers at Vienna-Schwechat Airport are rejoicing. In a record find in the autumn, 170,000 cigarettes, around 50 kilograms of shisha tobacco and 6276 potency pills were seized. The customs officers became aware of the smugglers in advance - due to precise risk analyses during the flight from Cairo. The investigators therefore first stopped a 61-year-old Italian for inspection. He was traveling with four suitcases, which were checked in the so-called green channel using an X-ray machine. The suitcases contained only cigarettes and water pipe tobacco.

Shortly afterwards, his two accomplices, a 30-year-old Frenchman and a 49-year-old Egyptian, also wanted to go to the exit when they noticed that their friend was being checked. They then tried to evade customs control by having the suitcases stored. However, this attempt was of little use to them and the experienced officers also asked them to come round. 

80,000 euro fine per offender
Criminal financial proceedings were initiated against the three smugglers, who face fines of up to 80,000 euros per offender. Customs team leader Roland Karner, who has been on duty at Vienna Airport since 1991, says: "We have never encountered such quantities in tourist traffic. Over the years, we have increasingly refined our interaction between people, technology and sniffer dogs. In this way, we efficiently prevent smuggling and protect correctly operating businesses from illegal black market trade."

This success shows that our risk analyses work and I would like to congratulate our colleagues on this successful operation. Customs thus makes a significant contribution to the lawful and fair functioning of our business location.

Zoll-Bereichsleiter Michael Kalcher

Finance Minister and "Chief Customs Officer" Gunter Mayr congratulates his colleagues at the airport: "Our customs officers regularly achieve remarkable successes in both the cargo and travel sectors. When the right suitcases are pulled out of millions of suitcases with pinpoint accuracy, it shows how professionally smuggling is tackled here. I congratulate my colleagues on this record seizure."