Customs officers and police found illegal tobacco products in St. Petersburg retail outlets

A large shipment of unlabeled tobacco products of foreign origin was discovered during a customs inspection of three retail outlets with warehouses in St. Petersburg. More than 95 thousand packs of cigarettes and 1400 packs of snus were seized.

Officers of St. Petersburg Customs and the Department of Internal Affairs of the Nevsky district of St. Petersburg conducted customs inspections of three stores with warehouses in the Nevsky district of St. Petersburg

The inspection revealed a large batch of tobacco products produced, according to the information on the packages, in the Republic of Belarus, UAE, Kazakhstan, Germany and Switzerland. The packages lacked excise stamps and means of identification. The total amount of unlabeled tobacco products found was 95,361 packs of cigarettes and 1,404 packs of snus

The owners of the premises were unable to provide documents confirming the legality of importation and turnover of tobacco products.

– The unlabeled cigarettes and snus were seized by officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia and will be sent for examination, – Denis Ignatyev, deputy head of the St. Petersburg Customs, reported. – The issue of opening a criminal case under Article 171.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (storage and sale of unlabeled tobacco products) is under consideration.