One of the largest tobacco smuggling operations ever intercepted in Israel was foiled at the Ashdod Port: Customs inspectors and investigators uncovered at least eight containers packed with hundreds of thousands of cigarette packs with an estimated value of more than NIS 200 million. The inspection of the remainder of the shipment is still underway. The scope of the tax that would have been lost to the state treasury had the cigarettes been successfully smuggled is estimated at tens of millions of shekels.
The smuggled cigarettes arrived at the port as part of three shipments containing 48 containers from Egypt, which were declared as containing wheat flour. During a rigorous inspection conducted by customs, it became clear that only a negligible portion of the containers actually contained wheat, while the rest of the containers were packed to capacity with cigarettes intended for sale in Israel while evading the payment of taxes by law.
Eight containers found packed with smuggled cigarettes
"This is the largest smuggling operation I have ever seen, and perhaps the largest that customs has ever exposed," noted Gil Haziz, director of the Ashdod Customs House. "Had it not been thwarted, it would have caused a heavy loss of revenue to the state and damage to the Israeli economy. Beyond that, there is concern that some of the cigarettes were intended to be smuggled into the Gaza Strip for the purpose of money laundering and terror financing."
Following the discovery, an extensive investigation was launched by the Ashdod Drug and Customs Unit (Yasam). According to suspicions, many parties are involved in the smuggling operation, including the importer in whose name the import to the country was registered. The importer was brought yesterday to the Ashdod Magistrate's Court, where his remand was extended.
The Tax Authority notes that due to the unusual scope of the smuggling and the suspicion of additional containers, investigative actions were carried out even before the inspection of all 48 containers was completed. The count currently stands at eight containers, but the assessment is that as the inspection progresses, additional containers containing tobacco will be discovered.