50 million illegal cigarettes confiscated in 10 months

Slovak customs officers have confiscated around 50 million illegal cigarettes, more than 85 tonnes of illegal tobacco, thousands of cigars and six illegal machines for the production of cigarettes in the first ten months of 2019. This according to the director of the Criminal Office of the Slovak Financial Authority Ľudovít Makó, who was speaking on Tuesday in Budapest at an international press conference on combating tobacco trafficking. In the first half of 2019 alone, Slovak authorities secured illegal tobacco that represented a loss of potential income for the state budget equalling €37.6 million.