Two rented vans carrying over 10,000 cigarette cartons from the occupied areas to the free areas, detected last Wednesday, have linked two major cases involving a well-organised ring smuggling tobacco to Israel.
An Israeli man aged 26 and a Turkish Cypriot aged 51, arrested in Pyla and Athienou, are being held in connection with the two cases.
Customs Department officers established that the same person rented the two vans from two car hire companies in the free areas.
The two drivers went to the occupied areas and collected the smuggled cigarettes, which carried tax liabilities amounting to €620,000. They then attempted to transport them to the free areas through uncontrolled crossings.
The 26-year-old Israeli was arrested first by Larnaca police members in Pyla, along with the Customs Department. In his possession, officers found 3,950 cartons of 200 cigarettes each.
A few hours later, members of the Green Line Control and Surveillance Centre informed Customs Department officers that during a search they conducted in the Athienou-Lympia area, they found a total of 6,400 cartons of 200 cigarettes each in a hired commercial vehicle driven by the 51-year-old Turkish Cypriot.
Cases linked to Israel ring
Confirming the connection between the two cases, now being investigated by the Chief Customs Office Investigation Department, department spokesman Giorgos Constantinou told philenews they appear to relate to the cigarette trafficking ring to Israel.
Statements are being taken and searches are being conducted at car hire companies to establish how many vehicles were rented and what routes they took, he said.
Customs believes the final recipient is in Israel, but the intermediary who would collect the cigarettes in the free areas is also being sought.
The most likely scenario is that ring members would load the smuggled cigarettes onto a boat in a sea area in the free areas and then transfer them, outside the territorial waters of the Republic of Cyprus, to a ship that would transport them to Israel.
Constantinou said they believe they would be trafficked by sea, due to the cigarette packaging in which nylon was placed to make them waterproof.
However, he added, the possibility they would be trafficked by air is not ruled out, although this is considered more remote due to the quantity of cigarettes.
He noted that no connection has yet been found with the case of three Israelis arrested last February at the Psarolimano fishing shelter in Larnaca. At that time, 10,503 cigarette cartons were found on a boat at Psarolimano and in a warehouse in the Larnaca district.
