Contraband Cigarettes Found on Turkish Cargo Ship

It was on a Turkish cargo ship, flying the Panamanian flag, that the Carabinieri of the operational and mobile radio unit of Castellammare di Stabia found thousands of packets of smuggled cigarettes. Coming from Ukraine with a cargo of corn and wheat and docked in the port of Torre Annunziata, the vessel hid in its hold about 7000 packets of cigarettes of Serbian origin but presumably destined for the Neapolitan black market. The captain of the ship, a 39-year-old Syrian from Tartus, and 3 individuals from Oplonti aged 68, 57, and 58 were handcuffed. These latter had just taken 500 cartons of the cargo (5000 packets) and had packed them into a car. They were arrested for smuggling foreign tobacco.