Regardless of how politics dictate sure actions, smugglers and crooks will at all times be alert to new concepts to be able to earn cash.
Belarus is among the most ardent supporters of the Putin regime and from 2021, it has formally inspired financial migrants particularly from Africa and the Center East to illegally cross its border with Poland to be able to attain the European Union.
Poland reacted by strengthening its border controls however this has had an surprising knock on impact because the smuggling of low cost black market cigarettes from Belarus began to dry up.
Polish police 1,500, smugglers nil as unlawful cigarettes from Belarus seized
At all times creative, the smugglers and their Polish contacts determined that in the event that they couldn’t transport the cigarettes personally then they’d use balloons to crack the border and Polish police now perceive the way in which by which the smuggling takes place after discovering a haul of a minimum of 1,500 packets which had actually flown over the border.
Officers had been alerted to the truth that a balloon had landed in a rural a part of the Bargłów Kościelny commune beneath cowl of darkness and once they arrived within the space, found a 37-year-old man wandering round in a subject carrying a GPS gadget which led them to the smuggled cigarettes.
He has now been charged with illegally importing the packs of cigarettes which had no signal of Polish fiscal stamps which if that they had entered the Polish market would have defrauded the State of 40 thousand złoty (€9,600) in income tax.
Poland closes gates on Belarus border and stifles cigarette smugglers
Previous to 2021, it’s estimated that greater than 100 million untaxed cigarettes had been discovering their approach from Belarus into Poland and this has been dramatically lowered annually however there may be loads of cash concerned for many who take the chance as a packet of cigarettes prices round €2 in Belarus in comparison with roughly €4 in Poland.
Different methods utilized by smugglers have included utilizing drones quite than balloons and even creating rafts made to appear like chunks of ice that are despatched throughout borders by river or stream.
