Customs officers stopped a Turkish Cypriot taxi carrying an Israeli passenger at the Deryneia crossing point on August 2, during routine checks enforcing the Green Line Regulation, as the taxi carried the passenger toward Larnaca Airport. A search of his luggage turned up 14 cartons of cigarettes, each containing 200 cigarettes.
The cartons carried none of the required Greek and Turkish-language health warnings, nor the security feature and unique traceability code needed for legally taxed tobacco, indicating the products were untaxed and duty-unpaid.
Customs seized the tobacco products, which will now go through the prescribed destruction process. Officers initially arrested the passenger for offences committed in the act, but released him after accepting his proposal for an out-of-court settlement, under which he paid €840.
