Polish lorry driver arrested for smuggling 9 million cigarettes

Coming to Poland soon.


New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has signed legislation raising the minimum price for a pack of cigarettes to $13 in New York City.
Health Department officials say the hike from $10.50 will make the city the most expensive place to buy cigarettes in the country.
The $13-a-pack cost includes taxes.
The law goes into effect on June 1.

Ehh I wouldn't totally agree with that. The 1/2 price cigs can be purchased within a 5 10 minute walk in just about any direction from SkyTower in Wroclaw although I'm sure every city is different. The 15 16 standard zloty price is still far cheaper than what cigarettes cost here at $6 $7 a pack so for the most part I generally don't buy the bogus ones since they taste like $hit and it's not worth saving $2 to smoke what we've dubbed 'czernobylskie' (from Chernobyl). In rural and suburban areas almost every kiosk has them but they'll only display like one pack in the window (often the Russian Zebra ones). Authorities obviously know about it I just don't think they care a whole lot and they have other fish to fry. I use to only smoke cigs but now I smoke hookah at home and in the office - bit healthier and cheaper and cigs only if I like can't use a hookah (i.e. driving, going out somewhere).

Yeah there's been a few incidents like that especially in Russia with bad liquor. I'm sure Poland too. I remember seeing a clip of some Russian guys catching two dudes driving a load of bad liquor and they put them in cuffs and beat the crap out of them afterward. The Russian cops there are no joke. They beat people up, demand bribes, do all sorts of things especially if it's something that they believe is hurting Russians or Russian society.

In Cook County Illinois $10.50-$13.00 would be a deal lol! $15-$16 is standard. Generally people who smoke regularly will drive 20 minutes, buy a carton for the week or whatever at half price in lake or will county, and not buy in cook unless they run out.

Yes, In Warsaw there's only one place near the centre where it's overt. Apart from that, you have to know that the little old lady with the stall or whatever has them.


Again, not round Warsaw - the police etc are very keen on this.


With alcohol/cigs in large quantities, it tends to come through Poland rather than originate there. It looks like this is what happened with the lorry driver in the original post.

I could write a long article on Russian cops' abuses, having lived there for three (academic) years. The mentality is different there. There is no conception of 'to protect and serve', or being of the people. The soviet model remains. The function of the police is to keep the people controlled, intimidated and frightened. As for OMON, don't get me started.

@Roger5

Well they enforce Putin's agenda as well as the criminal penal code. I.e. if one tries to wave a lgbt flag, you'll get beaten and jailed. Different mentality you're right. Putin has instituted a sort of fort Russia policy - in some ways I agree with certain things he's doing like trying to unite the country through Russian things - orthodox religion Russian history patriotism russian arts and music etc. He doesn't want Russia to turn into the type of culture Brussels has promoted and it appears Russians seem to support him in that quest. Although the corruption the attacks on people like Jehovah witnesses etc is a bit too much.

Yes. That and the Tsarist and post-Soviet mode tool. Very little to choose between them, and Russia (with the enthusiatic support of Russians in the Baltic) is the source of so much that is smuggled into Europe.

Much tougher action is needed against them, cutting off their export markets and depriving their authoritarian and corrupt regime of income.


I wonder what that £2.5 million in lost excise could have done for a local police force's budget.

This is not so accurate. Predominantly muslim immigration from central Asia and caucasus has exploded under his rule and ethnic Russians are now a minority in Moscow. He's done nothing to stop this and won't (he's a globalist too, just a different kind of globalist).

We know it's your favourite subject, however does it relate to cigarette smugling within Europe?

Who died and named you thread boss? Are you a mod?

It's response to a mistaken assertion. Deal. with. it.

Why so defensive?

It's also irrelevant. The demographics of 'central Asia and caucasus' don't impact on the problem of cigarette and alcohol smuggling from Poland into the UK, even in those cases where the contraband originates in Russia or the Baltics.

The loss of excise revenue (£2.5 million in this case alone) have an impact.

Won't Brexit help in tightening the borders against contraband?

No. If it goes ahead, it's unlikely to affect customs inspections at Dover and in any case, the customs union is expected to remain.

Seems like a lose/lose situation. Being on islands, the UK should be able to keep contraband from coming through entry ports (though then shore patrols would have to be increased of course.

Or they could just figure out some other way to get the money they currently get from tobacco taxes and eliminate the incentive to smuggle in the first place.

They mostly do. The stakes are however so high that some people will always try doing it using often ingenious means.


That won't happen - the excise duty brings in much needed revenue as well as making the price of tobacco a deterrent.

But it's not. It has a land border with another EU country, the Republic of Ireland.

Why start this this BS? Is that a criminal chronicle forums?
Deph does it out of spite. Also he is a sociopath with serious mental issues - a freak.
What is your excuse?

... which country may be neglected as being too small. Didn't your sister experience this notion of Ireland in France?

Well in the Brexit talks it's going to be one of the first issues discussed. In fact they're talking about it today.

Which is on an island even further from mainland europe than Great Britain.... getting contraband to Ireland to cross the border into ulster is too much work for most smugglers (unless they're making contraband stuff in the republic itself...)

There's already a massive tobacco smuggling racket in Ireland. No problem at all to get it across the open border into the North and then over to the UK.

This just cements my idea is that the real problem is the UK's hypocritical tobacco taxes rather than the UK citizens who rebel against it (no buyers = no incentives) or nonUkers who willingly help them. Good for freedom of choice, down with the Miss Grundies!

As far as I know, the two countries work together on smuggling. As for getting it from NI to the rest of the UK, all lorries are checked on the ferry.


Fewer than you think buy tobacco smuggled in bulk. Nevertheless, one consignment, the one driven by the Polish guy, cost society a revenue of £2.5 million, enough to educate around 600 primary school kids per year.

These two sentences contradict each other (smugglers have to know the market, if the market weren't there they wouldn't be 'costing' the government so much money.

And also, I still say it's silly (and terrible policy) to count on a source of income one is trying to eliminate.

No they don't contradict at all. Crime is opportunist, and you fail to (or ignore) the very significant difference between large and small scale smuggling.

Basically petty crime and serious crime.


Who says they 'count on it'? They certainly appreciate fiscal revenues (society always does) however the excise duty is high for a reason other than revenue.

If there's no market for something there's no smuggling. When's the last time you heard of smuggled anteater meat in Poland?


You implied it heavily more than once, linking 'losses' to specific government programs


A very stupid reason. I don't smoke (and strongly dislike the smell of burning tobacco) but most anti-tobacco laws are puritanism in disguise and I just can't get down wit' dat. diggit?

The idea is to kill the market, before the 'market' kills the smokers.


Nope, simply suggesting ways that society could use that amount.


You've never seen those ladies selling it in town? On ul. Poznanska.

You mean I could have had anteater meat for dinner tonight (if I lived in Warsaw)? I'm devastated. hmmmmmm anttttyyyyy

If you've got the dosh anything is possible. Ask for the 'special stuff'.

Over the course of two years, an organized crime group from Bialystok and Warsaw, smuggled twice that at 18.8 million packs of cigarettes worth PLN 440 million into Poland.

That's a record high, putting the case at the top of the largest cigarette smuggling cases in history.
This is why they say, "Quit while you are ahead."

One more reason to prefer Poland to the USA. Here, they smuggle tons of tobacco products. In the US, it is tons of narcotics.