Brussels, 17/06/2014 (Agence Europe) - Last year, the customs services of the EU seized around 816 million cigarettes and 240,000 litres of alcohol in a period of 10 months, a European Commission report revealed on Monday 16 June.
Around one third of the units seized came from countries targeted by the operation “DISMANTLE”, which include Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia. “DISMANTLE” is a targeted customs operation aiming to reduce the risk of smuggling and fraud in products subject to excise duty. Between March and December of last year, customs controls were stepped up on the eastern borders, on the basis of common risk criteria and real-time information exchange between EU customs authorities. Half of the total seizures of smuggled tobacco arrived by sea from Asia, the Middle East and North Africa, and 10% is of unknown origin.
“DISMANTLE” has shown that sharing expertise, working jointly on risk analysis and monitoring the impact on results in real time can deliver very successful results. The report stresses the need to continue and intensify cooperation between the customs authorities and investigators, to tackle, amongst other things, the risk of “green borders” (smuggling through a point in the border where there is no customs post). This means that mobile customs units could be highly effective. The report also lays emphasis on the need to guarantee the quality, accessibility and timeliness of collected data, and to implement measures to improve the capacity for electronic risk profiling. (EL)