On Saturday, May 10, as a result of successful cooperation between the State Border Guard, Uzbekistan Airways, Turkish Airlines, and the Air Border Police Office of the State Police of the Italian Republic at Fiumicino Airport, an attempt to smuggle contraband cigarettes from Uzbekistan to Italy via Turkey using air transport was prevented.
By assessing information based on risk indicators, border guards in cooperation with representatives of Uzbekistan Airways and Turkish Airlines identified two Latvian citizens who were planning to illegally move excise goods from Uzbekistan to Italy in transit via Turkey using air traffic. Information on the persons was passed on to the Air Border Police Office of the Italian State Police at Fiumicino Airport, and on Saturday evening two Latvian nationals with contraband cigarettes arriving from Istanbul to Fiumicino were detected.
In total, Italian officials seized 80 000 Sobranie and Marlboro cigarettes from suitcases and rucksacks of the mentioned persons.
Administrative procedures were initiated against the persons concerned for smuggling under Italian law. The cigarettes detected were seized.
It should be noted that in 2025, on the basis of information provided by officials of the “Riga” Airport Border Control Point of the State Border Guard to law enforcement authorities of other countries (France, Italy, the United Kingdom), six Latvian citizens were detected attempting to smuggle 263 000 cigarettes into the European Union and the United Kingdom.