EUBAM: stepping up the fight against cigarette smuggling through regional cooperation

Representatives from customs and law enforcement agencies of Belarus, Georgia and Lithuania met recently at the Task Force Tobacco in Odessa, held under the aegis of the EU Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine (EUBAM), to share their experience with colleagues from Hungary, Poland, Romania, Moldova, and Ukraine, as well as OLAF and SELEC.

The meeting resulted in an agreement to establish a regional mechanism for exchanging information on illicit cigarette shipments, intensifying the fight against tobacco smuggling on a regional level.