Amount of cigarettes smuggled from Russia to Estonia falls by over 5 times in 2013

In 2013, an average of 15.21 cigarettes were brought from Russia illegally to Estonia per person arriving from Russia to Estonia, which is 5.5 times less than in 2012, when the average was 84.47, as the state targeted law violators caught with small amounts of cigarettes at the border, LETA/Public Broadcasting.  Over 2.4 million people entered from Russia to Estonia via three highway customs checkpoints, last year bringing an estimated 37 million illegal cigarettes, i.e. cigarettes with Russian tax labels that exceeded the allowed limit, to Estonia. Tax and Customs Board custom regulations department head Urmas Koidu said that in addition there are cigarettes imported in allowed limits, a large part of which are unfortunately sold too.   “The fall has come primarily from the fact that starting the beginning of last year, violators were separately targeted, who were caught with small amounts of illegal cigarettes. For example, starting the beginning of 2013, no one has the right to just give up illegal cigarettes and proceedings are initiated regarding all violators, which in most cases results also in a fine,” explained Koidu.

http://www.baltic-course.com/eng/transport/?doc=87973