The coordinated work of the National Customs Service and Carabineros of Chile allowed the seizure of the largest shipment of contraband cigarettes recorded in the Arica and Parinacota Region (north). It is 700.500 packs that were intended to evade taxes for $1.563 billion pesos.
The information was released by the Minister of the Interior, Andrés Chadwick, together with the Head of the National Drug Control Department of the National Customs Service, Patricio González; and the Director General of Carabineros, Mario Rozas.
Minister Chadwick highlighted the multi-agency work that has confronted the phenomenon of cigarette smuggling and that during this year has allowed the seizure of 9 million 715 thousand packets nationwide that were intended to evade taxes for more than US$ 39 million. In national terms, there is an increase of 4,7% in seizures, with the regions of the Northern Macro Zone being the ones that concentrate this type of procedures with 69,7% of the total.
The Head of the National Customs Drug Control Department, Patricio González, explained regarding the seizure in Arica, in which specialists from the Risk Analysis Unit profiled a container that arrived from Panama bound for Bolivia and whose cargo manifest indicated that it carried cleaning supplies. Due to certain characteristics and together with the work of Carabineros, the cargo was monitored until it was proven that it had been diverted to a warehouse in the industrial neighborhood.
The General Director of Carabineros, General Mario Rozas Córdova, added that the joint planning considered a series of investigation techniques and which ultimately led to the entry and search of the property, where the presence of contraband cigarettes inside the container and in an adjoining warehouse was confirmed, as well as the manipulation of the container door to avoid breaking its seals.
In total, 1.401 bales or boxes containing 700 packs of cigarettes were seized at the raided location, which were intended to evade taxes for $500 pesos.
The Regional Director of the Arica Customs, Osvaldo Osorio Iglesias, highlighted the work of the officials and pointed out that during this year Customs and the police have seized 999.355 packets of cigarettes in Arica, which represents an increase of 82,2% compared to the same period last year.
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