Romanian Head Of Customs Office Albita Remains Under Arrest

 

Romanian prosecutors of the Department for the Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) detained Friday Ghita Berbece, head of the customs office in Albita, eastern Romania, along with underworld leaders Vasile Rodideal and Bogdan Ionut Radu, on cigarette smuggling charges.

The prosecutors arrested five people who allegedly took part in illegal activities within an organized crime group.

The five members are Vasile Rodideal, Bogdan Ionut Radu, Ghita Berbece, Nicu Cercel and Vladimir Mardar, also known as "Vova".

Starting February 2008 the group members 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.

A similar transport took place during the same day, when 118,790 cigarette packs were smuggled into Romania.

On July 15, Vladimir Mardar smuggled cigarettes using a juice transport.

The following day, the truck crossed the Albita border. Investigators followed the truck to the point where Nicu Cercel was waiting for it. Searches revealed 350,000 cigarette packs had been hidden in the truck, causing damage exceeding EUR1 million to the state budget.

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