Cross Border CrimeNewsSmuggling

Gunfire and snow chase to stop a car loaded with contraband cigarettes

Botoșani border policemen with support of their colleagues from the Botoșani Police carried out a specific action to combat cigarette smuggling in the area of ​​responsibility. As part of the action carried out, they identified, in the Botoșani municipality, a car suspected of being involved in smuggling activities.

The driver of the suspect car did not stop at the signals of the border police officers and, as a result, they had to use the weapons firing several warning shots, both vertically and at the tires of the car.

Although he was followed by the police car with acoustic and light signals, the driver continued his journey towards Dorohoi, and in Pădureni town, Botoşani county, due to excessive speed, he hit a bridge head. The driver abandoned the car and ran away, but our colleagues followed him for about a kilometer and, because he did not obey the legal summons, fired two shots vertically, without registering casualties or material damage.

The man was immobilized by the border policemen, and seven parcels containing approximately 4,000 packs of cigarettes, worth over 38,100 lei, were discovered in the car.

Following the first investigations, the border police officers found that a 33-year-old man from Botoșani county was behind the wheel, and the car had false registration numbers.