Prosecutors and customs officers seized 75,500 packs of cigarettes and over 1.7 million pieces of cigars as a result of searches carried out at a business entity during three days. The criminal case over smuggling was started last year, IPN reports.

The press releases of the two institutions say it goes to an illegal scheme to make and sell tobacco products, including in duty-free stores. Following searches, there were impounded excise stamps used to sell products through duty-free stories and packing for making packs of cigarettes. Raw material for producing cigarettes under the brand names of Chinese companies, a part of which were sold in Moldova only through duty-free shops, were found at the place.

The company stopped working officially several years ago as its license for such a type of activity expired. Despite this, a number of cases of illegal trafficking in such products at the border and on Moldova’s territory were identified during the last few years.