Specialized agents from the General Directorate of Customs (DGA)-AFIP broke up a millionaire smuggling of nearly 4,000 packs of cigarettes that was headed for Australia, via the simplified courier system.
The 3,720 bundles were hidden inside padded wooden poufs, and their value is estimated at $2,008,800, as reported in a DGA statement.
In this sense, they indicated that, when scanning the parcels, the Customs inspectors noticed that the 13 packages in question —for which a total value of around 550 dollars had been declared— yielded images that were not compatible with what indicated in the submitted documentation.
In this way, the destinations changed to the Mandatory Red Selectivity Channel and proceeded to open it for exhaustive verification.
The inspection found that the interior of the furniture was full of cartons of cigarettes of a well-known brand, of different flavors.
In this context, they highlighted that the Customs Code indicates that, when it comes to tobacco or derived products, the figure of smuggling applies if the value of the merchandise exceeds $160,000.
The destinations in question exceeded that number by far, thus, Customs seized all of the merchandise and notified the Justice.
Those who are eventually found responsible for the package before the law could have to face a fine of up to $40,176,000, according to reports.
Likewise, an intelligence work by the General Directorate of Customs identified that certain merchandise appreciates considerably when entering Australia. While a pack of 20 cigarettes costs around $540 in Argentina (just under 3 dollars at official value), in the oceanic country they are sold at US$ 28.59, almost 10 times more.
Thus, it is believed that the value of cigarettes on the black market would be approximately US$ 15, with which smuggling from our country would yield margins of close to 500%.
