Athens airport under customs control: 0.4 million cigarettes and €500 thousand

ΑΑΔΕ strengthened control at the airport “Eleftherios Venizelos”: almost confiscated 415 thousand cigarettes and a passenger was identified with 500,000 euros.

Ανεξάρτητη Αρχή Δημοσίων Εσόδων (Independent State Revenue Administration, ΑΑΔΕ) carried out a major operation at Athens International Airport “Eleftherios Venizelos”. Inspectors seized 414 900 contraband cigarettes hidden in passengers’ luggage, and in another high-profile episode, a passenger who arrived from Dubai With 500,000 euros in hand luggage.

According to Greek media, inspectors ΑΑΔΕ found a large batch of tobacco products in luggage 11 passengersarriving in Athens on flights from Ethiopia And Egypt. Total seized 414 900 units of tobacco products, which, according to the department, were intended for illegal distribution on the domestic market of Greece.

A specially trained service dog participated in the operation. BANEtrained to detect tobacco products. As it turns out, sometimes one well-trained dog can make more than a dozen presentations on the digitalization of control for the budget. Unpleasant for presentations, but nice for the tax authorities.

11 detentions and damage to the budget

All 11 passengersin whose luggage tobacco products were found, were detained and taken to the competent prosecutor. According to ΑΑΔΕthe amount of unpaid duties and taxes is approx. 85 thousand euros.

We are not talking about a “personal supply” of cigarettes, but about a batch intended for illegal sale. Tobacco smuggling remains one of the most sustainable areas of the shadow economy: for the state it is lost taxes, for the legal market it is unfair competition, and for criminal networks it is quick money with a relatively low risk.

Not just cigarettes: half a million euros from Dubai

Almost simultaneously with the case of smuggled cigarettes at the airport “Eleftherios Venizelos” Another significant episode was recorded. As reported by the program “Αλήθειες με τη Ζήνα”inspectors ΑΑΔΕ identified a passenger arriving from Dubai With 500,000 euros in hand luggage. A journalist prepared a report on this case Alexandros Kalafatis.

This case shows that Athens airport remains a key control point not only for the smuggling of tobacco products, but also for the movement of large amounts of cash. For the state, such checks are no less important than the seizure of illegal cigarettes: we are talking about tax transparency, possible money laundering and attempts to move money across the border without proper declaration.

Airport as a filter of the shadow economy

Both episodes show the same problem: not only tourists, businessmen and ordinary passengers pass through international transport hubs, but also shadow flows – from tobacco smuggling to large sums of cash.

For ΑΑΔΕ airport “Eleftherios Venizelos” becomes not just a baggage control point, but one of the main filters of the shadow economy. This is where external routes, passenger flows, commercial schemes and attempts to circumvent tax and customs rules intersect.

Intensive border checks, according to the department, are part of the strategy to combat tobacco smuggling and illicit financial flows. Authorities say such measures have already helped reduce illicit tobacco consumption and reduce government revenue losses.

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