Preventive Arrest For Romanian Customs Office Head On Cigarette Smuggling Charges

Defense lawyers Saturday appealed the court’s decision with the Iasi Court of Appeals and requested Berbece, Vasile Rodideal and Bogdan Ionut Radu be released.  

Romanian prosecutors with the Department for the Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) Friday detained Berbece alongside Rodideal, Ionut Radu, Nicu Cercel and Vladimir Mardar, also known as "Vova," for alleged involvemnt in illegal activities within an organized crime group.

Starting February 2008, the group members have forced drivers in the public transportation sector to transport smuggled cigarettes hidden among goods transported legally and to present false documents to customs authorities, investigators said.

The group managed to bring in Romania, on July 11 at night, 338,000 cigarette packs hidden in three tanks, while a similar transport took place during the same day when 118,790 cigarette packs were smuggled into Romania.

 

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